Mock Exam Flashcards
(a) Giving reasons in EACH case, identify FIVE persons’ who could be interviewed to provide information for an investigation into a workplace accident.(5)
(b) Outline the issues to consider when preparing the accident investigation interviews for workers from within the organisation.(5)
I)
• The injured person who would be able to relate what happened.
• An eye witness or the first person on the scene who might have observed what happened.
• The first-aid person who attended to the injured party at the scene of the accident with respect to the injuries received.
• The injured person’s manager and/or supervisor who would have knowledge of the process involved, the existing safe systems of work, the procedures that should have been followed and the training and instruction that had been given to the victim.
• A technical expert with specialist knowledge of the process or machine involved.
• A Trade Union representative who would have knowledge of any previous complaints or incidents associated with the machine or process.
• The safety adviser who would be fully briefed on the systems of work that should have been followed and any possible breaches of the legislation
II)
- The need to carry out the investigation interviews as soon as possible after the event, though it may be necessary to postpone the process if the witness is injured or in shock.
- A suitable date would have to be provided taking into account the availability of the people to be called since shift patterns might have a part to play.
- Identify the interviewers, to consider where the interviews would be held and how they would be recorded whether by tape recorder, by dictaphone or handwritten and to gather together any relevant documentation, such as risk assessments or training records.
- It would also be important to bear in mind the requirements of employment law and trade union issues such as employee rights, the right to be accompanied or to have legal representation.
- Finally, consideration would have to be given to the format and distribution of the final accident report and how the information gathered might be used to introduce measures to prevent a recurrence or as a possible defence in any possible prosecution or civil law suit.
In relation to health and safety, outline the status AND role of:
(a) ratified international conventions;(5)
(b) ratified international recommendations.(5
Ratified international conventions
• Status
–Comparable to that of multilateral international treaties.
–Create binding obligations for countries that ratify them.
–Any complaints of non-compliance can be examined by the International Labour Conference’s Committee.
• Role
–Lay down the basic principles to be implemented by ratifying States.
–Provisions are used as a basis for establishing national laws.
–Require States’ to report on their application of the conventions and the extent of the States’ compliance may be examined.
Ratified international recommendations
• Status
–Aimed at member States.
–Do not have the binding force of conventions.
–May stand alone without being linked to any particular convention.
• Role
–To stimulate and guide national programmes for member States.
–Elaborate on provisions in conventions and provide more detail on how they may be applied
Outline, with appropriate examples, the key features of the following risk management concepts:
(a) risk avoidance; (2)
(b) risk reduction;(2)
(c) risk transfer; (3)
(d) risk retention.(3
Risk avoidance:
• Take active steps to avoid or eliminate risk:
–Discontinue the process
–Avoid the activity.
–Eliminate the hazardous substance
•Risk avoidance is avoiding completely the activities giving rise to risk. For example, never travel by air to avoid the risk of being involved in a mid-air collision.
Risk reduction:
•Risk elimination usually has a wider meaning; it implies removal of a risk without necessarily ceasing an activity completely, e.g. redesign of a process to remove a particular risk without stopping the activity.
• Evaluate risks and develop risk reduction strategies to achieve an acceptable level of risk control:
–Use safety management and risk management systems.
–Apply the hierarchy of control
Risk transfer:
Transfer involves transferring the risk to another party such as by insurance - the loss is financed from funds which originate outside the organisation. The second main way is to engage a contractor who will take on the risks.
Risk retention:
With knowledge means you have made a conscious decision to bear the burden of losses; without knowledge means it is done without any consideration whether or not to insure
• Accept a certain level of risk within the organisation and decide to fund losses internally:
–With knowledge, where the risk is recognised and evaluated.
–Without knowledge, where the risk has not been identified.
–Using selfinsurance, where insurance is not available for disasters
Every risk that is not transferred (to insurance) is a retained risk:exampels
•Events which are insurable
•Losses not considered when setting up insurance
•Hazards deliberately not insured -
(a) Outline the role of effective consultation arrangements with employees concerning health and safety matters in the workplace.(4)
(b) Outline the range of formal and informal arrangements that may contribute to effective consultation on health and safety matters in the workplace.(6)
(a)
• Achieves compliance with the requirements for consultation laid down by Article 20 of the ILO convention C155.
• Improves employment relations.
• Develops ownership of safety measures by employees and promotes commitment and motivation.
• Improves employee perception of the value and importance of health and safety, aiding the development of a positive health and safety culture.
• Secures the input of employee knowledge to achieve more workable improvements and solutions.
• Encourages the submission by employees of positive ideas for improvement.
(b)Formal
• Establishment of safety committees.
• Consultation with union-appointed safety representatives.
• Consultation with elected representatives of employee safety.
• Planned direct consultation at departmental meetings or team briefings.
• Consultation as part of accident/incident investigations or as part of the completion of risk assessments.
Informal
• Day-to-day informal consultation by supervisors with employees at the workplace.
• Toolbox talks.
• The use of departmental meetings or team meetings for ad-hoc consultation on safety issues
• Discussions on health and safety as part of safety circles or improvement groups.
• Discussions on health and safety at staff appraisals.
• The use of questionnaires and suggestion schemes
Outline, with examples, the benefits and limitations of:
(a) prescriptive legislation;
(b) goal setting legislation.
a)Benefits of prescriptive legislation
• Requirements are clear and easy to apply.
• Provides a level playing field for all.
• Not difficult to enforce.
• Does not require a high level of expertise.
Limitations of prescriptive legislation
• Is inflexible.
• May be inappropriate in some circumstances by requiring too high or too low a standard.
• Does not take account of local risks.
• May need frequent revision to keep up with changes in technology and knowledge.
• Stifles innovation
Regulation 26, Rolling over of mobile work equipment:
(1) Every employer shall ensure that where there is a risk to an employee riding on mobile work equipment from
its rolling over, it is minimised by:
(a) stabilising the work equipment;
(b) a structure which ensures that the work equipment does no more than fall on its side;
(c) a structure giving sufficient clearance to anyone being carried if it overturns further than that; or
(d) a device giving comparable protection
(b)Benefits of goal-setting legislation
• Has more flexibility in the way compliance may be achieved.
• Is related to actual risk and can apply to a wide variety of workplaces.
• Is less likely to become out of date.
Limitations of goal-setting legislation
• May be open to wide interpretation.
• The duties it lays and the standards it requires may be unclear until tested in courts of law.
• May be more difficult to enforce.
• May require a higher level of expertise to achieve compliance
Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974. The key duty imposed on
employers is: “It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”
A maintenance worker was asphyxiated when working in an empty fuel tank. A subsequent investigation found that the worker had been operating without a permit-to-work.
(a) Outline why a permit-to-work would be considered necessary in these circumstances.(3)
(b) Outline possible reasons why the permit-to-work procedure was not followed on this occasion.(7)
(a) A permit-to-work would be considered necessary in these circumstances because:
• Risk assessment identified the need.
• Confined space entry is a high-risk task.
• Precautions are complex and need a systematic approach.
• The work needs a strict control system and communication arrangements.
• Hazards could be introduced during the task.
• The work is non-routine
(b) The possible reasons why the permit-to-work procedure was not followed on this occasion include:
• lack of training and monitoring of the system, poor culture, production pressures,
• The permit was not specific for the activity.
• The permit system was too bureaucratic.
• No competent person to authorise the permit.
• Time pressures.
• Inadequate risk assessment.
• Controls to be followed not clear.
• Problems with organising controls before the work starts.
• Lack of information, instruction, training.
• Lack of effective communication.
• Routine violations due to a poor health and safety culture.
• Poor supervision.
• Need for permit not communicated to the workers.
• No permit-to-work system available.
• Complacency from the individuals involved.
(a) Explain the objectives of:
(i) active health and safety monitoring;(5)
(ii) reactive health and safety monitoring.(5)
(b) OutlineFIVEactive health and safety monitoring methods.(5)
(c) OutlineFIVEreactive health and safety monitoring methods.(5)
(i)
The objectives of active health and safety monitoring are as follows:
• To identify risks of accidents, injuries, ill health and loss.
• To give an overview of the strategies currently in place to control risk.
• To provide information on how the risk control systems operate in practice.
• To ensure that appropriate health and safety systems and procedures are in place.
• To enable action to be taken before things go wrong.
(ii)
The objectives of reactive health and safety monitoring are as follows:
• To measure historic performance by looking at events that have occurred.
• To identify the consequences of loss events and the cause of failure.
• To establish what systems and procedures should be put in place to prevent a recurrence.
• To provides data which may be used to assess and compare trends over time.Both active and reactive monitoring can be used:
• To measure legal compliance or non-compliance
• To provide a basis for continual improvement which:
–Demonstrates commitment on the part of management.
–Improves the morale of the workforce.
(b)
Active health and safety monitoring methods include:
• Safety inspections – systematic observation of the workplace looking for hazards or non-compliance with legislation.
• Safety surveys – detailed examination of a particular safety topic.
• Audits – in-depth, systematic, critical investigation of the health and safety management system.
• Sampling – systematic recording of hazard situations observed during inspections made along predetermined routes in a factory or on a site.
• Environmental monitoring – comparison of measured levels of environmental agents against statutory hygiene standards.
• Health surveillance – to identify any early signs of work-related ill health and enable action to be taken to prevent further harm and control health risks.
• Benchmarking – compare the performance of an organisation with others to determine the differences and similarities.
(c)
Reactive health and safety monitoring methods include:
• Accident investigation – to determine their root causes and prevent recurrence.
• Investigation of near-miss incidents – to identify and remedy their causes.
• Ill-health reports – to highlight trends in occupational ill health.
• Enforcement action – to identify specific breaches of legislation and the need for improvement.
• Number of civil claims – to identify of failure to discharge duty of care and the need for improvement.
• Property damage – to identify and remedy causes.
• Complaints from workers – to highlight trends in areas of concern.
• Costs to the employer from loss events – to highlight trends in accident costs.
(a) Outline the meaning of ‘skill based’, ‘rule based’ AND ‘knowledge based’ behaviour.(6)
(b) With reference to practical examples or actual incidents, explain how EACH of these types of operating behaviour can cause human error AND, in EACH case, explain how human error can be prevented.(14)
(a)
Skill-based behaviour :
These types of errors occur in very familiar tasks which require little conscious attention:
• Involves a low level, a pre-programmed sequence of actions.
• Workers carry out routine operations, often on ‘automatic pilot’.
Rule-based behaviour :
These types of errors occur when the programme is based on remembered rules or procedures. a strong tendency to try to use or select familiar rules or solutions
• Involves actions based on recognising patterns or situations.
• Selection of actions is based on a learned set of rules.
Knowledge-based behaviour:
These may occur in unfamiliar situations where no tried-and-tested rule exists. They are often related to incomplete information being available or misdiagnosis where, when facing new or unfamiliar situations, we are trying to solve problems from first principles.
• Involved at a higher problem-solving level.
• No set rules.
• Decisions on the appropriate action to be taken is based on knowledge of the system.
(b)
1. Skill-based behaviour :
I. Error occurs when:
An experienced driver driving on a familiar road. Errors can occur when we are distracted or interrupted:
• Signals passed at danger on the railway are often a result of skill-based errors.
•Slips – failures in carrying out the actions of a task. Examples include:
– Performing an action too soon or too late.
– Leaving out a step or series of steps from a task.
– Carrying out an action with too little or too much strength.
– Performing the action in the wrong direction.
– Doing the right thing but with regard to the wrong object (or vice versa).
• Lapses – forgetting to carry out an action, losing a place in a task or forgetting what we had intended to do. These are often linked to interruptions or distractions. Using a simple checklist can help to reduce the likelihood of lapses occurring.
II. Possible prevention strategies for skill-based errors include:
•verification checks, such as checklists;
•Using feedback signals to warn when the wrong course of action is being taken;
•Designing routines and controls so that they are distinct from each other.;
•Introducing training, competence assessment and a high level of supervision;
•Allowing adequate work breaks or job rotation to maintain attention.
III. Incidents include Bhopal, Seveso
- Rule-based behaviour :
I. Error occurs when:
• No routine is known that will solve the new situation, so we don’t know what to do.
• We try to apply the usual remembered rules and familiar procedures because of familiarity with similar problems from previous experience, even when they are not appropriate.
• The wrong alternative is selected, or there is some error in remembering or performing a routine.
•Not enough training given to enable workers to make an accurate diagnosis
II. Possible prevention strategies include:
•simple, clear rule sets;
•system designed to highlight unusual or infrequent occurrences;
•clear presentation of information
•Simple, easy to follow rules
•The provision of training and competence assessment.
III. Incidents include the Kegworth air crash, Piper Alpha or Three Mile Island
- Knowledge-based behaviour:
I. Errors occur when:
• Some condition is not correctly considered or thought through or when the resulting effect was not expected or is ignored.
• There is insufficient understanding or knowledge of the system.
• There is insufficient time to properly diagnose a problem.
II. Possible prevention strategies include:
training; supervision; use of checking systems; provision of sufficient time and knowledge
III. Chernobyl
A senior management team have requested a detailed report to justify resources needed for the management of health and safety.
Outline reasons for managing health and safety that you would include in the report.(20)
Moral:
• The health and safety of the workforce as important as financial profit.
• The employer owes a duty of reasonable care to his employees.
• Workers do not expect to risk life and limb, or physical health, as a condition of employment.
• Society expects employers to demonstrate a responsible attitude to the health and safety of their workforce.
• It is unacceptable to place employees in situations where their health and safety is at risk.
• Employers have a moral obligation to protect other people whose health and safety may be affected by their undertaking (e.g. contractors or members of the public).
Legal:
• The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981, C155, identifies some basic general legal duties of employers towards their employees in Article 16:
–Enforcement notices (improvement or prohibition) can be issued by enforcement inspectors.
–The criminal courts can impose fines and imprisonment for breaches of legal duties.
–Employees are able to sue in the civil courts for compensation.
Economic
• Accidents and ill health are costly:
–Direct costs such as sick pay, repairs to damaged equipment, fines and legal fees.
–Indirect costs such as lost orders and business interruption.
• Insurances will cover some of the costs of accidents and ill health, e.g. compensation claims from employees and damage to motor vehicles.
• Many costs cannot be insured against, such as:
–Product and material damage.
–Lost production time.
–Legal costs in defending civil claims, prosecutions or enforcement action.
–Overtime and other temporary labour costs to replace the injured worker.
–Time spent investigating the accident and other administration costs.
–Fines from criminal prosecutions.
–Loss of highly trained staff.
–Effects on employee morale and the resulting reduction in productivity.
–Bad publicity leading to loss of contracts and orders.
(a)Give the meaning of the term ‘health and safety culture’.
(b) Outline the role of an organisation in the development of a positive health and safety culture.
(c) Identify ways of measuring the effectiveness of a health and safety culture.
(a)
A safety cullture is “A system of shared values and beliefs about the importance of health and safety in the workplace. “An attitude to safety which pervades the whole organisation from top to bottom
and has become a norm of behaviour for every member of staff from the board of
directors down to the newest juniors.
- Shared perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour patterns.
- Values that members of an organisation have in the area of health and safety
“The safety culture of an organisation is the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation’s health and safety management. Organisations with a positive safety culture are characterised by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive measures.”
(b)
• Demonstrating leadership and commitment from the top, It is important to ensure that management behaviour is positive in order to produce positive results and a positive culture. the most important thing is ‘leading by example’.
• Developing and implementing a health and safety policy. Policy need to be created and implemented to create a supportive environment for your safety culture.
• Identifying and allocating key health and safety responsibilities
• Ensuring that adequate resources are provided for health and safety. unadequate resourcing can send a wrong message to employees thinking that the management isn’t concerened with safety related issue.
• Ensuring that health and safety is given the same importance as other objectives, such as production and quality.
• Completing risk assessments.
• Introducing safe systems of work.
• Providing training for the workforce. Training also makes individuals feel valued and is an important part of their personal growth and achievement. and has positive impact on the health and safety culture
• Communication and consultation with the workforce. key benefits from consultation is a safer and less stressful environment is created which contributes to a good safety culture.
• Monitoring the effectiveness of health and safety systems on a regular basis. monitoring act as facilitators and engage with the workforce to solve health and safety problems.
• Rectifying any deficiencies identified as quickly as possible.
• effective safety incident reporting system
•Learning organisation – the organisation continually improves its own methods and learns from mistakes.
(C)
•Housekeeping is usually a good indicatior of the effectiveness of a health and safety culture.
•The presence of warning notices throughout the premises.
•The wearing of PPE.
• Staff turnover and sickness absenteeism
• Complaints received about working conditions
•Quality of risk assessments.
•Good or bad staff relationships.
•Accident/ill-health statistics.
• Results of:
–Surveys
.–Value questionnaires on the subject of health and safety, Statements made by employees, e.g. “My manager does not care.
–Appraisal interviews.
–Observing the behaviour and commitment of the workforce.
Accident Frequency Rate Formula and meaning
Number of work-related injuries × 100,000/ total number of man-hours worked
It is a measure of the number of accidents per 100,000 hours worked
Accident Incidence Rate Formula and meaning
Number of work-related injuries × 1,000/
The average number of persons employed
It is a measure of the number of injuries per 1,000 employees measured over a defined period, e.g. a year.
Accident Severity Rate Formula and meaning
Total number of days lost × 1,000/
Total number of man-hours worked
It is a measure of the average number of days lost per 1,000 hours worked and gives the average number of days lost per accident.
Ill-Health Prevalence Rate Formula and meaning
Total number of cases of ill health in the population × 100 / Number of persons at risk
The calculation gives the percentage of the population with the disease.
