NEBOSH OBE IG1 Feb 2021 Solved Question Paper
Question Paper - Feb 2021
Scenario
You are a coordinator for a behavioral safety audit (BSA) program at a food manufacturing site. Behavioral safety is just one of a range of approaches that senior managers want to introduce to the site to change the organization and improve health and safety. Successful implementation of the BSA program is one of the occupational health and safety objectives for the whole site. Each BSA involves a trained observer who observes site workers, including contractors, carrying out a task. The observer looks for both safe and unsafe behavior, as well as noting the general workplace conditions at the time. There is a follow-up conversation between the site worker and observer, usually immediately after the observation. In this conversation, observers give praise to site workers on observed safe behavior as well as considered verbal feedback on unsafe behavior. The idea is to encourage safe behavior and, if site workers are behaving unsafely, try to establish why they behave in that way and discuss what can be done to change it.
Your job is to co-ordinate the activities of ten trained observers across the site, one of whom is a young apprentice, and one an expectant mother with a child due in six months. The observers are workers who have volunteered to actively monitor their respective manufacturing departments. They use a checklist of critical behaviors that were identified from studying past accidents and incidents in the organization. The checklist is common to all departments to carry out daily BSAs. As coordinator, you collect the completed checklists daily, collate and evaluate data, and conduct weekly feedback meetings with workers in each department. All the associated forms, checklists, and procedures are carefully version-controlled.
You report to a supervisor who is not convinced of the value of the BSA program. This same attitude is also shared by some of the other long-serving middle managers. You know that the introduction of the BSA program will need careful management if it is to be accepted by your supervisor and the other managers. However, you do have the support of at least one member of the site senior management team, nominated as the site behavioral safety Champion. They have already provided resources for you to develop behavioral safety awareness training and ensured all 150 staff attended. Separate financial support was also provided for carrying out observer training for the ten volunteers. This included special communication facilities for an observer with hearing difficulties.
Your supervisor talks to you about an accident that occurred two weeks ago, where a contractor suffered a knee injury. The contractor works for a national contracting maintenance company and was brought on-site to do a specific job. The supervisor thinks the accident is an obvious case of ‘human error’ that is not worth the time to investigate further. Your supervisor hands you the accident report to read and suggests that any reasonable person would come to the same conclusion. Reading the report, you note that the injured contractor was rescued by the site’s emergency response team, taken to hospital, and was off work for a week. Your supervisor thinks that most accidents are unavoidable and that people are to blame because they behave unsafely. You disagree and argue that blaming individuals is a mistake and demoralizes the workforce. It is a core value of the BSA program that the root cause of unsafe behavior is often management failures, and these must be determined so that lessons can be learned. Your supervisor asks you to investigate the accident further, confident that it will prove that it was all down to human error.
When the injured contractor is well enough to return to work, you arrange a meeting and ask some questions. Although the contractor has a lot of experience in contracting work, including involvement in permit-to-work systems at other sites, this was the first time they had worked at this food manufacturing site. You ask how the injury occurred. They reply that while adjusting a piece of equipment alone, they slipped on a working platform, made of scaffolding poles (tubes) and scaffold boards, that were erected by the contractor.
When you ask the contractor how they feel about being injured at work the reply really surprises you. They say: ‘It is accepted as part of our job, unsupervised, we live with the risks and accept the consequences, without complaint’. You respond by explaining that their employer and the food manufacturing site where they are working have a joint responsibility to care for them. The contractor confirms that, before starting the job, they had received specific induction training and job-specific
information from the site supervisor, although that was the last time that they saw them on that day. You also ask about the safety of the work environment and they indicate it appeared to be fine. You visit the accident scene and observe that oil, used by a site maintenance technician to lubricate equipment above the working area, has leaked onto the working platform below and coated the boards.
You discover that the work carried out by the contractor was done under the authority of a permit-to-work (PTW). So, you also decide to investigate how the permit system operated on that day. You ask the contractor about the sequence of events on the day of the accident. They recall that a job instruction was received, then the contractor walked to the site office where PTWs was written and issued. The contractor, trained in the responsibilities of what accepting a permit meant, presented a job description note to the manufacturing site’s PTW issuer and a brief discussion took place. They appeared to be extremely busy, and the contractor overheard them say that they were issuing up to 75 PTWs a day!
The site’s permit issuer talked with the contractor about the exact nature of the job and clarified understanding of the hazards and risks for the proposed task. The task appeared to be a low-risk one to the permit issuer, and because of this and a high workload, they did not physically check the area where the task was due to take place. The self-duplicating PTW forms were duly completed and authorized, including relevant signatures. One copy was retained by the contractor, one copy was put on display at the job site, and one was kept as a record in the site office. The permit was issued to cover the period 09:00 - 17:00 that day. The contractor also told you that the permit issuer talked about associated control measures, including isolation of equipment before starting work and the wearing of head protection while working on equipment.
Your investigation concludes that there were many organizational management failures and only one identified human error. One of your recommendations is to review the original risk assessment for the maintenance of equipment above the working area, at the scene of the accident.
Answer:
The benefit of using the checklist of critical behaviors during this behavioral safety Audits (BSAs) are as follows:
- Written record – This is evidence of that audit is performing, using of the checklist is a written record of critical behaviors which are beneficial for conducting weekly feedback meetings.
- Fast & Easy process – it's an easy and fast process for the observer to record the behaviors of work at manufacturing unit at different departments.
- Determine all points are covered – While observing the safe & unsafe behaviors of workers using a checklist ensures that all points as per checklist are covered and no any points are missed.
- Structured & Systematic – it’s structured and systematically based to coordinate with all ten observers to collate and evaluate data of the worker in each department across the site.
- Easy approach – it is an easy and efficient for the observer to monitors the behaviors to reduce the chances that important area will not be missed.
- Comparison - it provides an efficient method for comparison among checklists of the different departments also will be used during the audit.
- Save time – Using a checklist saves time to the observers, as they don’t need to think by themselves, topics are covered as per points mentioned in the checklist.
- Version controlled – Checklist can be updated as per the requirement after collate & evaluate data of the safe & unsafe behaviors of workers.
- Workers feedback- Safe and unsafe both behaviors are recorded using a checklist, workers behaviors are also being monitor if any unsafe acts are observed then they are approached for the feedback of the workers to prevent it in future.
- Accountability- Observers feel accountability in using the checklist as it is written record needs to be completed regularly as per the audit requirements.
- Provide and maintain safe workplace – employer not provide a safe workplace to workers it was found that during visit accident the scene there is an oil leak onto the scaffolding working platform.Provide adequate supervision of worksite supervisor was not available during the work as the worker said they saw him last time on the day of the training.
- Eliminate physical & mental fatigue – PTW issuer having high workload they were issuing up to 75 PTW per day because of this did not physically check the area where work was taking place, the worker was adjusting of equipment alone there was no co-worker with him to help to adjust the equipment.
- Use safe work method – Before issuing the work permit Issuer did not physically check the area where work was due to take place because of the high workload.
- Organization nature of the activity – contractor the worker was not having experiences in the food manufacturing industry because they work in other industries only
- Provide adequate PPE – employer did not check and provide slip resistance shoes to the worker when the permit is being issued only Hard hat is recommended to use as a control measure.
- Worker technical knowledge – worker not have technical knowledge about the task to be done as he worked in another site never worked before in food manufacturing industry.
- Ensure working procedure – employer clearly mention the working shift of 8 hours but not clear the rest time for worker welfare that also the high the exposure of risk due to long working hours or increase the stress level of workers.
- No First aider First aid facilities – there was an accident happen with contractor worker during working on equipment after the accident rescue by site Emergency Response team and send him to the hospital that shown employer not provide certified first aider & First aid location for Initial treatment in the food manufacturing unit.
- Lack of management commitment – During the investigation management is not entrusted to investigate the accident further because they think it is only a human error and not worth the time to investigate further.
- Lack of Supervision – Site supervisor was not available and there is no supervision during commencing the task, the worker said he did not see supervisor at the site after the training, he was working alone for the purposed task.
- Negative attitude - Supervisor and some of the middle managers in the organization imposing a negative attitude as they are not convinced the value of the BSA program they always blaming the workers and not accepting the management fail.
- Improper housekeeping – housekeeping is not done after lubricate above the working area which caused leak onto the working platform leading slippery surface.
- Improper risk assessment – risk assessment was not found adequate for the maintenance of the equipment above the working area it needs to be reviewed with the proper recommendation and controlled measured to identified.
- Ignorance of joint site inspection – work area was not physically check before issuing the permit by the permit issuer because of the high workload.
- Blaming culture - Supervisor think that most accident unavoidable and people are to blame due to behaving unsafely, it shows the negative the attitude of the employee which can pose a negative impact on the employees working in the food manufacturing site.
- Inadequate PPE – employer fails to provide adequate PPE to the worker as per the task and working situation, only head protection is considered while slip resistance shoes also need to be considered as per task.
- It was observed that the work carried out was done under the authority of permit to work system that means PTW system is at the place and followed properly.
- The Contractors are getting PTW training before accepting any permit and brief job discussions are carried out between PTW Issuer and permit accepter.
- The site permit issuer is taking care and talk with the contractor about the exact nature of the job and clarifying the hazard & risk for the proposed task.
- Permit to work documentation is properly followed and self-duplicating PTW forms are completed and authorized including all authorized signatures. Three copies are there one to be retained to the contractor another copy displaying at the job site and one keeping as the record in the PTW Issuer site office.
- Permit is issued to cover the period of 8 hours per shift if the work is not completed during the shift then the permit need to be extended by the contractor.
- Permit the issuer also discussing the associated control measures as per the task including isolation of the equipment before starting the work.
- PPE is also mentioning in the permit like head protection while working on any specifics equipment and discussing with the permit accepter, also mentioning control measures onto the permit which is accepted by the permit accepter.
- Permit issuer facing high workload they were issuing up to 75 PTWs a day due to this many things are missing and ignored like control measures additional and proper PPEs and they were also not getting time to physically check the area of the work.
- Health & Safety policy of the organization – provide the information about the H&s policy and procedure.
- Fire & emergency procedure and equipment’s – need to be included in the training and the location of the emergency equipment need to be explained.
- Details of hazardous work place – give information about the workplace hazard and risk including the control measures.
- First aid facilities – provide the location of the first aid facilities and first aider personal details.
- Location of well fear facilities - show the locution of well fear facilities to locate easily from the worksite safe.
- Safe movement of workplace – provide information about how to safe movement around the workplace.
- Accident & incident reporting procedure – give instruction to report and accident & incident at work site.
- Worker consultation arrangement – worker consultation need to be arranged by every employer and provide information regarding the consultation arrangement of the worker.
- General safety rules – all general safety rules need to be provided and instructed such as designated smoking area, No alcohol policy.
- PPE requirements – all mandatory PPE requirements should be explained including the additional and specific PPE as per according to the area.
- Introduction to SSOW – permit to work system and another safe system of work procedure need to be provided.
- Disciplinary procedure – disciplinary action needs to be explained in case of worker violates any company rules and regulation.
(a) What are the positive indicators of health and safety culture at the food manufacturing site?
- Senior the manager introduced a behavioral safety program at the food manufacturing site to improve health & safety culture.
- BSA program set an objective for the whole site for occupational health and safety improvements.
- All BSA involved are trained observers who observe the site worker including the contractor carrying out the task at the site.
- As per BSA program site workers are getting appreciation from the observer to motivate the workers if safe behaviors are observed.
- Senior managers have appointed observer’s coordinator for behaviors safety audit for successful implementation of the BSA program.
- Verbal feedback is introducing in case of unsafe behaviors, which shows the two-way communication system if site worker behaving unsafely and discussed what can be done to change it this is to encourage safe behaviors and avoid unsafe practices.
- Observers looks for both safe and unsafe behaviors of the workers which shows the positive culture of the organization.
- Checklist are being used for critical behaviors that were identify from past accidents and incidents in the organization checklist is being filled daily with collating and evaluating data.
- Weekly feedback meeting is conducting with workers in each department to listen to the workers' issues and discuss the existing findings of the food manufacturing site.
- All the relevant forms checklist documented procedure is being updated and as per control version.
- Management provide resources to develop behavior safety awareness training to all staff with separate financial support for special communication facility for hearing difficulties staff.
- Emergency response team is available and active in case of any emergency happens at the site for any rescue purpose.
- Contractor induction training and job-specific training is being conducted by the management to improve the hazard awareness of the workers.
- Permit to work is in place and implemented by the employer to the safe execution of the job at a food manufacturing site.
- Supervisor having the negative attitude which is associated with accidents as he thinks is unsafe behavior is always a human error and that’s why accidents cannot be investigated further.
- The supervisor has not convinced of the value of the BSA program and also some middle managers are thinking the same which shows the negative indicators of the health & safety management system.
- After the accident knee injury of the worker supervisor view is that most accidents are unavoidable and workers are to be blamed because they behave unsafely which indicate the blame culture of the organization.
- No recorded complaint and reporting system of the contractor when investigated injured worker said he lives with the risk and accept the consequences without complaint which is a negative attitude of the worker.
- Permit issuer having heavy workload in issuing the permit which shows the excess work pressure of the employees indicate the negative culture.
- Managers introduced the BSAs program to observe the behaviors of the workers but not ready to focus on the management failures issues which is the root cause of the accident, it gives a direct negative impact on the workers' morale which indicates negative influence.
Plan – Establish standards (objectives / aims / targets) for introducing BSA Programme improving health and safety by management & based on risk assessment and legal requirements
- Young worker – A young apprentice in the organization having lack of experiences with mental immaturity as well as poor risk perception required special attention during the risk assessment.
- Expected mother – pregnant women are also available in the organization, she is at more risk for different types of hazard involved miscarriage, birth issue and ill health to the baby and mother, they need to give special care in the risk assessment specifically.
- Disable worker (hearing issue) – Organisations have one difficulty in hearing disabled observer, he also needs to be considered in the risk assessment as they also include in greater risk from particular hazard like they cannot hear the emergency alarm, vehicle movement sound.
- Lone workers – Working alone is also a vulnerable group of workers who especially associated with a certain type of hazard they also need to be included in the risk assessment
- Elimination - The task was not being possible to be eliminated by the management if the hazard can be eliminated then the risk by that hazard does not exist it might be done by avoiding the task that creates the risk.
- Substitution – Process that substitute one hazard with another less hazardous risk which creates less risk but, in this task, this was not possible to substitute the hazard.
- Engineering control – Engineering control was used by isolating the maintenance equipment, this control was to use the lockout tagout of the equipment and the control panel with the visible reason of the isolation, this prevents the equipment to avoid accidental start-ups and warn others that people are working in this this equipment so this cannot be started. Only an authorized person can remove the isolation after confirming the equipment is ready to operate and ensures no one is working there at the said equipment.
- Administrative control – Permit to work, system to control the task with adequate precaution before starting the activity, the job description is mentioned with discussing the required control measures with the permit accepter. But there is no physical check of the concerned site visit by the issuer because of their busy schedule, control measures discussed and applied on permit on assumption base, there is no risk identification of the current situation of the area hence fails to provide the correct control measures on the permit.
- Supervision is also a part of an administrative control but in this activity, there was no supervision available during the task, the supervisor should be available with the worker at the site, but the worker was alone while activity going on, the worker did not see the supervisor after the training session.
- PPE – All of the above control measure can be used but some time residual risk still remains, by this case PPE is necessary to use.