Examiners report nebosh igc1 sep 2009

September 2009

Examiners’ Report NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety - IGC1

Examiners’ Report NEBOSH INTERNATIONAL GENERAL CERTIFICATE IN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY UNIT IGC1: MANAGEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY SEPTEMBER 2009

CONTENTS

Introduction

2

General comments

3

Comments on individual questions

4

© 2009 NEBOSH, Dominus Way, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1QW tel: 0116 263 4700

fax: 0116 282 4000

email: info@nebosh.org.uk

website: www.nebosh.org.uk

The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health is a registered charity, number 1010444 T(s):exrpts/I/IGC10909

EXTERNAL

DW/DA/REW

Introduction

NEBOSH (The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) was formed in 1979 as an independent examining board and awarding body with charitable status. We offer a comprehensive range of globally-recognised, vocationally-related qualifications designed to meet the health, safety, environmental and risk management needs of all places of work in both the private and public sectors.

Courses leading to NEBOSH qualifications attract over 25,000 candidates annually and are offered by over 400 course providers in 65 countries around the world. Our qualifications are recognised by the relevant professional membership bodies including the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM).

NEBOSH is an awarding body recognised and regulated by the UK regulatory authorities: • • • •

The Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) in England The Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) in Wales The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in Scotland

NEBOSH follows the “GCSE, GCE, VCE, GNVQ and AEA Code of Practice 2007/8” published by the regulatory authorities in relation to examination setting and marking (available at the Ofqual website www.ofqual.gov.uk). While not obliged to adhere to this code, NEBOSH regards it as best practice to do so.

Candidates’ scripts are marked by a team of Examiners appointed by NEBOSH on the basis of their qualifications and experience. The standard of the qualification is determined by NEBOSH, which is overseen by the NEBOSH Council comprising nominees from, amongst others, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Representatives of course providers, from both the public and private sectors, are elected to the NEBOSH Council.

This report on the Examination provides information on the performance of candidates which it is hoped will be useful to candidates and tutors in preparation for future examinations. It is intended to be constructive and informative and to promote better understanding of the syllabus content and the application of assessment criteria. © NEBOSH 2009

Any enquiries about this report publication should be addressed to: NEBOSH Dominus Way Meridian Business Park Leicester LE10 1QW Tel: 0116 263 4700 Fax: 0116 282 4000 Email: info@nebosh.org.uk

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General comments

Many candidates are well prepared for this unit assessment and provide comprehensive and relevant answers in response to the demands of the question paper. This includes the ability to demonstrate understanding of knowledge by applying it to workplace situations.

There are always some candidates, however, who appear to be unprepared for the unit assessment and who show both a lack of knowledge of the syllabus content and a lack of understanding of how key concepts should be applied to workplace situations.

In order to meet the pass standard for this assessment, acquisition of knowledge and understanding across the syllabus are prerequisites. However, candidates need to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in answering the questions set. Referral of candidates in this unit is invariably because they are unable to write a full, well-informed answer to one or more of the questions asked.

Some candidates find it difficult to relate their learning to the questions and as a result offer responses reliant on recalled knowledge and conjecture and fail to demonstrate a sufficient degree of understanding. Candidates should prepare themselves for this vocational examination by ensuring their understanding, not rote-learning pre-prepared answers.

Common pitfalls It is recognised that many candidates are well prepared for their assessments. However, recurrent issues, as outlined below, continue to prevent some candidates reaching their full potential in the assessment. −

Many candidates fail to apply the basic principles of examination technique and for some candidates this means the difference between a pass and a referral.

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In some instances, candidates are failing because they do not attempt all the required questions or are failing to provide complete answers. Candidates are advised to always attempt an answer to a compulsory question, even when the mind goes blank. Applying basic health and safety management principles can generate credit worthy points.

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Some candidates fail to answer the question set and instead provide information that may be relevant to the topic but is irrelevant to the question and cannot therefore be awarded marks.

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Many candidates fail to apply the command words (also known as action verbs, eg describe, outline, etc). Command words are the instructions that guide the candidate on the depth of answer required. If, for instance, a question asks the candidate to ‘describe’ something, then few marks will be awarded to an answer that is an outline.

−

Some candidates fail to separate their answers into the different sub-sections of the questions. These candidates could gain marks for the different sections if they clearly indicated which part of the question they were answering (by using the numbering from the question in their answer, for example). Structuring their answers to address the different parts of the question can also help in logically drawing out the points to be made in response.

−

Candidates need to plan their time effectively. Some candidates fail to make good use of their time and give excessive detail in some answers leaving insufficient time to address all of the questions.

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Candidates should also be aware that Examiners cannot award marks if handwriting is illegible.

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Paper IGC1 Management of international safety and health Question 1

(a)

(b)

(c)

Explain reasons for maintaining and promoting good standards of health and safety in the workplace.

(8)

Identify sources of information that an organisation may use to help maintain and promote good standards of health and safety in the workplace.

(6)

Outline possible reasons why good standards of health and safety in the workplace may not be achieved.

(6)

For part (a), better answers had structured responses around the moral, legal, social and economic arguments for maintaining good standards of health and safety within an organisation.

The moral argument centred on the need to provide a reasonable standard of care and to reduce the injuries, pain and suffering caused to workers by accidents and illhealth while the legal reasons centred on compliance with the law and ILO and other international standards to avoid criminal penalties and to comply with the employer’s common law duty to take reasonable care of workers. Social reasons were concerned with the need to provide a safe place of work, safe plant and equipment, safe systems of work, competent workers and a high standard of training and supervision. The economic benefits would include a more highly motivated workforce resulting in an improvement in the rate of production and product quality; the avoidance of costs associated with accident investigations; the avoidance of costs associated with accidents such as the hiring or training of replacement staff and the possible repair of plant and equipment; securing more favourable terms for insurance and maintaining the image and reputation of the organisation with its various stakeholders.

For part (b), sources of information that an organisation may use to help maintain and promote good standards of health and safety include: legislation including directives and regulations; ILO codes of practice, conventions, guidelines and recommendations together with those produced nationally; information produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work; international standards such as those from ISO and BSI; guidance produced by the various enforcement agencies; manufacturers’ data; information produced by trade associations, trade unions and professional bodies; accident and ill-health data and information emanating from completed risk assessments, inspections and audits.

Reasons why good standards of health and safety may not be achieved in the workplace include: a lack of management commitment; poor morale among the workforce and a lack of motivation; frequent changes in the organisation; a lack of resources possibly due to a harsh economic climate; conflicting demands with priority being given to production targets and meeting deadlines; poor communication and consultation with the workforce; a failure to provide adequate training leading to a lack of awareness amongst workers; a failure to complete risk assessments and to produce safe systems of work and method statements; and generally poor standards of health and safety in the industry leading to a lack of peer pressure.

Answers to this question were generally to a good standard though for part (a), some candidates explained how rather than why good standards could be maintained and promoted while for part (c), others outlined the consequences of having poor standards rather than the reasons why good standards may not be achieved.

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Question 2

(a)

Give the meaning of the term ‘hazard’.

(2)

(b)

Give the meaning of the term ‘risk’.

(2)

(c)

Outline reasons why young persons may be at a higher risk of injury in a workplace.

(4)

Answers to parts (a) and (b) of this question were often poor with many candidates unable to give a satisfactory meaning of the terms “hazard” and “risk”. For part (a) they should have given “hazard” as something with the potential to cause harm and for part (b), an acceptable definition of risk would have been the probability/likelihood that an unwanted event will occur and its possible consequence and severity in terms of injury, damage or harm.

Answers to part (c) were to a better standard with candidates outlining reasons such as the individual’s stage of physical development and maturity; lack of knowledge, experience, training and practical skills; lack of perception or awareness of risk; poorly developed communication skills; a lack of confidence; over enthusiasm and the tendency of young persons to take risks and to respond more readily to peer group pressures.

Question 3

(a)

(b)

Explain how accident data can be used to improve health and safety performance within an organisation.

(4)

Explain TWO active (proactive) monitoring methods that can be used when assessing an organisation’s health and safety performance.

(4)

In answering part (a), candidates should have explained that accident data could be used to identify trends and problem areas and give the opportunity for remedial action; to enable improvement in resource allocation; to make comparisons with others; to inform and stimulate discussion at joint consultation meetings with the workforce; to identify the costs of accidents and to set new targets. Some candidates outlined the action to be taken after an accident had occurred such as providing information and training for the workers rather than what should be done with the overall data to improve the performance of the organisation.

Proactive methods that might have been explained included: audits involving comprehensive and independently executed examinations of all aspects of an organisation’s health and safety performance against stated objectives; inspections carried out on a regular basis which identify existing conditions and compare them with agreed performance objectives; safety surveys focusing on a particular activity such as manual handling, training programmes and workers’ attitudes towards safety; sampling where specific areas of occupational health and safety are targeted; tours involving unscheduled workplace inspections to check on issues such as wearing of personal protective equipment and housekeeping; benchmarking where an organisation’s performance in certain areas is compared with that of other organisations with similar processes and risks, and health or medical surveillance using techniques such as audiometry and blood or urine analysis. While most candidates were able to identify two active monitoring methods, they could not be given all the marks available since they did not explain the key characteristics of the methods they had selected.

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Question 4

Outline the circumstances that may require a health and safety policy to be reviewed.

(8)

In answering this question, candidates could have outlined circumstances such as: significant changes in the structure of the organisation and/or a change of premises; after the introduction of new or changed processes or work methods; following changes in key personnel; following changes in legislation; where audits, risk assessments, monitoring exercises or accident investigations show that the policy is no longer effective or relevant; as a result of consultation with the workforce; following enforcement action and after a sufficient period of time has elapsed since the previous review to suggest that another one is due.

Some candidates had problems with this question and were able to provide only one or two reasons for a health and safety policy to be reviewed. Others did not give sufficient detail to satisfy an outline question.

Question 5

(a)

Give TWO reasons why visitors to a workplace might be at greater risk of injury than workers.

(2)

(b)

Identify precautions that could be taken to reduce the risk of injury to visitors to a workplace.

(6)

In answer to part (a), there were a number of reasons that candidates might have given to explain why visitors to a workplace might be at greater risk of injury than workers. These include their unfamiliarity with the processes carried out at the workplace, the hazards they present and their associated risks and the fact that they may not have been issued with personal protective equipment; their lack of knowledge of the site layout and the fact that pedestrian routes might be inadequate and unsigned; their unfamiliarity with the emergency procedures and their vulnerability particularly if they were disabled, very young or had language problems.

For part (b), Examiners were expecting candidates to identify measures such as visitor identification, for example, by the issue of badges with a routine for signing in and out; prior notification to those members of staff to be involved in the visit; the provision of information to the visitors in suitable languages on hazards and emergency procedures; an explanation of specific site rules, for example, restricted areas and the wearing of personal protective equipment; the clear marking of pedestrian routes and the need for visitors to be escorted by a member of management or supervisory staff.

Answers to this question were generally to a good standard though some candidates were unable to provide a sufficient number of precautions for part (b).

Question 6

Give reasons why it is important to use a variety of methods to communicate health and safety information in the workplace.

(8)

This question required consideration of the sort of information that needs to be communicated in the workplace and the different methods of presenting such information. This should have led candidates to suggest that people respond differently to different stimuli, and that variety prevents over-familiarisation with one method and helps to reinforce a message. Other reasons that could have been given were: the need to overcome language barriers and the inability of some workers to read; the need to motivate, stimulate interest and gain involvement and feedback; the acceptance that different types of information require different methods of communication for example emergency signs; that the policy of the organisation may

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require certain information to be in a specified format; and that on occasions evidence that the message was given may need to be kept.

This question was poorly answered. It required candidates to consider the importance of using a variety of methods to communicate information but most did not direct their comments at this. Some outlined methods of communication while others described the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods.

Question 7

Due to its limitations personal protective equipment (PPE) should only be considered after other control measures.

Outline the limitations of using PPE.

(8)

There are numerous reasons why personal protective equipment (PPE) should be considered only after other possibilities have been exhausted. At a basic level, it is often a legal requirement that other means of control are considered first particularly since PPE does not remove the hazard. In addition PPE may not provide adequate protection because of such factors as poor selection, poor fit because of facial features such as beards, incompatibility with other types of PPE, contamination, and misuse or non-use by workers. Again, PPE is likely to be uncomfortable and relies for its effectiveness on a conscious action by the user which raises issues such as training and supervision. In certain circumstances, its use can actually create additional risks, for instance, impaired vision and warning sounds masked by hearing protection.

There were some good answers submitted though some candidates did not address the point of the question and restricted their comments to a description of the various types of PPE while others suggested how the various types should be used.

Question 8

Outline the immediate AND longer term actions that should be taken following an accident at work that has caused serious injury to a worker.

(8)

This question was well answered with most candidates able to outline actions such as: isolating services and making the area safe; administering first aid treatment and contacting the emergency services; informing the next of kin and offering counselling and support; notifying the regulatory authority if appropriate; collecting initial evidence such as photographs and sketches and the names of witnesses; setting up the accident investigation team and investigating the accident; determining the root and underlying causes of the accident; making and implementing recommendations to prevent a recurrence of the accident and ensuring feedback is provided to the workforce; collecting evidence to be used in any possible litigation following the accident and managing the provision of information to the media.

Question 9

(a)

(b)

Explain why it is important for an organisation to consult with its workers on health and safety issues.

(4)

Explain how arrangements for consultation with workers may be made more effective.

(4)

It is important for an organisation to consult with its workers on health and safety issues since in the first instance it may be a legal requirement or if not that, a requirement of the organisation’s health and safety policy. That apart, consultation will

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help to raise the profile of health and safety, improve the perception of its value and importance and assist in improving the health and safety culture of the organisation.

Additionally, it is useful in developing ownership amongst the workers of health and safety measures, obtaining their commitment, inviting their ideas for improvement and allowing them to contribute to health and safety decision making and to help in agreeing priorities for attention. Their views would also be useful in ensuring that suggested improvements would be workable in practice.

For part (b), arrangements for consultation with workers might be made more effective by: the establishment of safety committees; consultation with elected representatives of employee safety; planned direct consultation at departmental meetings, team meetings, tool box talks and staff appraisals; consultation as part of an accident or incident investigation or as part of a risk assessment; day to day informal consultation by supervisors with their team; and questionnaires and suggestion schemes. If formal meetings are to be held, it is important to ensure that there is a correct balance between management and worker representation; that an agenda is set and the meeting well managed by the chair; that the business of the meeting is not side tracked by discussion of non health and safety issues; that minutes of and report back from the meeting are made available to the workforce as a whole and that actions agreed receive attention without undue delay.

Candidates generally had difficulty with this question and were unable to explain the importance of consulting with the workforce on health and safety issues though, for part (b), they did suggest certain arrangements for consultation without indicating why these would be effective.

Question 10

(a)

Outline the role of workplace health and safety inspections.

(b)

(i)

(ii)

(4)

Give TWO strengths of using a checklist when carrying out an inspection.

(2)

Give TWO weaknesses of using a checklist when carrying out an inspection.

(2)

A workplace inspection is a general examination of health and safety performance at a particular point in time. As well as demonstrating management commitment, its role is to identify workplace hazards; to implement immediate corrective action where this is possible; to ensure compliance with the law and with laid down standards; to recommend improvements and further controls when these are seen to be necessary; to observe employee behaviour, for example, in the use of personal protective equipment; to listen to and consult with workers on health and safety issues; to review previous findings and recommendations and to provide a summary report to individual managers on standards in their areas of control. Few candidates were able to outline the role of workplace health and safety inspections with some referring to the powers of inspectors of the enforcement authorities.

Answers to part (b) were to a much better standard. Using a checklist to complete a health and safety inspection of a workplace enables prior preparation and planning to be made so that the inspection is structured and systematic; reduces the chance that important areas or issues might be missed; provides an immediate record of findings; ensures a consistent approach by those carrying out the inspection; is easily adapted or customised for different areas; and provides an easy method for comparison and audit.

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The weaknesses of using such a system are that over reliance on a checklist may lead to a blinkered approach by “inspectors� with the possibility that significant risks might be missed; that the checklist may not be reviewed and updated to account for changes to work processes or equipment; that there is a danger that inspections become routine with no follow up questions being asked; that the system is too objective and restrictive with no scope for peripheral issues to be considered; that untrained persons might be tempted to conduct inspections and that the procedure is subject to human error and/or abuse.

Question 11

(a)

(b)

Identify THREE types of emergency in the workplace that may require the evacuation of workers.

(3)

Explain why it is important to develop emergency procedures in the workplace.

(5)

The majority of candidates identified three types of emergency in the workplace that could lead to the need to evacuate the workers, selecting from a list of fire or explosion, the accidental release of toxic chemicals or gases, transport incidents, bomb alerts or other terrorist activities, weather related emergencies and earthquakes.

Part (b) of the question required an explanation of the importance of developing procedures for the safe evacuation of workers in the event of an emergency. Answers should have referred to the need to comply with legal requirements; to be prepared for foreseeable emergencies; to ensure the safety and protection of the workers including those dealing with the emergency, and to assist the safe evacuation of persons including those with specific needs such as visitors and the disabled; to provide information on the action to be taken, not only by workers but also by neighbours and others who might be affected by the emergencies such as in a shared or joint occupancy premises; to allocate specific responsibilities to certain workers in the event of an evacuation being necessary; to be able to mitigate the effects of adverse events and to restore the situation to normal; to ensure the procedures are made available to any relevant emergency services and to ensure business continuity. Again answers to part (b) of the question were to an acceptable standard though some candidates went into great detail on the content of emergency procedures without explaining why they were needed.

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The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health Dominus Way Meridian Business Park Leicester LE19 1QW telephone +44 (0)116 2634700 fax +44 (0)116 2824000 email info@nebosh.org.uk www.nebosh.org.uk