NEBOSH Open Book Exam Questions and Answer
NEBOSH Open Book Exam Questions:- On 23rd August 2023, NEBOSH conducted its first open-book examination for IGC-1, Students had sufficient time to complete the answers within 24 hours scale where the questions were scenario-based like paragraph type, only concepts and questions needed to be understood to write a good answer.
Books and internet help can be taken but need to mention the reference where the answer is taken in the answer sheet. In this article, I will show you the NEBOSH IG1 Open Book Exam August 2020 Questions Papers and Their Answer. After reading this full article you will read all the Tasks asked in the NEBOSH OBE Exam, So let’s get started:-
Below you will find Scenario Questions with Answers of NEBOSH IG1 OBE August 2023, Read the scenario carefully then go to the Question Tasks to see the written answer.
NEBOSH IG1 Open Book Exam
SCENARIO
You have recently moved to a new job. You are now responsible for health and safety at a large, busy retail store that is located on the outskirts of a large town served by good roads. The store sells do-it-yourself (DIY) and hardware goods, such as tools, equipment, and hazardous chemicals, to local businesses and the general public.
The organization that owns the store has 100 stores nationally and 10 in your area.The main part of the store is open to customers to view and buy goods. At the back of the store, through an automatic-opening door, is a large warehouse, where stocks of goods are arranged on racks of shelving. Only store workers are allowed in the warehouse. Warehouse workers use forklift trucks (FLTs) to move goods from delivery trucks into the warehouse.
When the store is closed to customers the goods are moved into the main part of the store to restock shelves.You report to the overall Store and Warehouse Manager. The warehouse workforce consists of:- 20 workers (including 2 shift supervisors) split equally between two 12-hour shifts (08:00 – 20:00 and 20:00 – 08:00) on a rota basis of 4 days on, 4 days off.
Since you started your new job, you have seen a lot of examples of rule-breaking in the warehouse. For example, you have seen goods stacked in aisles and blocking designated walkways. Workers have to avoid many obstacles as they walk through the warehouse, causing them to step into vehicle routes.
Workers have told you that there are frequent near-misses between FLTs and workers, and collisions with products causing damage and spillages. There are no written records of any of these.There have been many injuries recorded over the years. Most recently, a repeat of a more serious collision occurred involving a young FLT driver.
The brakes were applied too late, as the driver was distracted by their mobile phone, the FLT skidded on an oil spillage and knocked goods over onto a passing worker.On this occasion, the worker’s leg was broken, which required urgent hospital treatment.
The hospital is 5 miles (approximately 8km) away from the store. The worker is expected to be off work for six weeks to recover from the injury. The injured worker is seeking legal advice to make a compensation claim.Worker absence and turnover are high in the warehouse. There are no health and safety worker representatives.
Warehouse workers have told you that they have complained to management about working conditions many times. They rarely see management in the warehouse. You cannot find any written records of complaints.You have tried to convince the overall Store and Warehouse Manager that something needs to be done to improve health and safety in the warehouse. You are told that there is no money for ‘that kind of thing’, and even if it were available, it would cause too much disruption to the business.
As a result of the recent FLT collision, you were visited by a labor Inspector who has made a formal order that requires workplace changes to improve the health and safety of the workers. The Inspector thinks it is only a matter of time before workers are more seriously injured or even killed in the warehouse. The Inspector also observed that the written risk assessments are too general and do not reflect the actual risks in the warehouse. The Inspector wants to see a more effective health and safety management system at their next visit.
You have discussed with the Inspector possible improvements to health and safety in the warehouse. The proposed solution involves segregating FLTs and workers with barriers, pedestrian walkways, designated crossing places, and separate entrances for workers and FLTs. In addition, you tell the Inspector that you will review health and safety performance, internally and externally, to make comparisons.
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Task 1:- What financial arguments could you use to justify your proposed recommendations to segregate FLTs and the workers?
Answer- Proposed recommendations will give following financial benefits-
Implementation will help the organization avoid various direct, indirect costs of which only some may be insured while a major portion could be in-insured.
Avoid first aid and medical costs arising from similar accidents involving a collision between FLT and workers.
Avoid sick pay costs in the future. 6 weeks sick pay had to be given due to the incident.
Lesser accidents mean avoidance of a sick pay scenario.
Avoid costs arising from repairs and maintenance to damaged property such as those arising from damaged hardware goods, tools, and even hazardous chemicals.
Avoid costs arising from loss of products and production time due to re-ordering or manufacturing to compensate for the damaged hardware products or for other remedial action.
Avoid costs due to staff turnover and high attrition rates arising from re-hiring, training new employees.
Avoid costs arising from legal claims by affected employees similar to that was initiated by the seriously injured worker.
Avoid costs arising from damage to reputation and brand image. Retail store brand image will lower and will affect sales and marketing causing losses.
Avoid costs arising from the investigation, fees for investigators, and interruption to operations during the investigation.
Avoid fines that may be initiated by the labor inspector. Heavy fines could be levied on employers due to a breach of legal safety requirements.
Avoid costs arising from transportation of injured workers to the hospital which is 8km far away.
Avoid costs arising from compensation to victims, rehabilitation of the injured worker, and their phased return to work. The above all obligations of the employer and will incur costs through the work of the Occupation health department.
Avoid costs arising from loss of morale and reduced productivity. Workers will feel demotivated when frequent accidents occur and it may also trigger unrest in the form of worker strike or protest which is further loss due to shut down of operations.
Task 2:- You email a report to the overall Store and Warehouse Manager, in a further attempt to convince them that safety needs improving. The report contains unsafe behavior that you have observed, unsafe behavior associated with historic incidents, and unsafe behavior relayed to you from other workers. Also, the report contains voluntary feedback on safety given to you by workers and managers. (a) what unsafe behavior would be included in the report? (b) what voluntary feedback would be included in the report?
Answer- 2 (a) Report on unsafe behavior would include
Various rule-breaking saw in the warehouse including goods being stacked in walking aisles and blocking of designated walkways.
Workers stepping into vehicle routes which may lead to a collision
FLT colliding with products and causing spillages due to unsafe driving techniques possibly due to poor safety culture or lack of trained FLT drivers
Usage of mobile phone while driving FLT which causes distraction and increase reaction time possibly due to a lack of rules on phone usage.
Driving of FLT over oil spillages that may have arisen out of poorly maintained FLT
Absence of management visit to warehouse and addressing the concerns of complaints made by workers
Answer- 2 (b) Voluntary feedback was given by workers and managers could include
Frequent near misses between FLT and workers and collisions with products causing damages.
High worker absence rates and high turnover rates
Absence of health and safety worker representative
Complaints raised by workers to management about working conditions and the inaction toward the complaints.
Absence of management visit in the warehouse.
Manager’s input on having no money for improving safety and that it would cause too much disruption to the business.
Task 3:- When selecting the external contractors, what would you consider when assessing their competence? alert-warning
Answer- External contractor’s competence can be assessed based on
Contractor Health and safety policy whether they have covered any accident prevention in their policy or not.
Quality of risk assessment and whether it is sufficient and suitable, method statement and safe system of work so that an accident can be averted after appointing the contractor arising from the contract workers and their work.
Contractors staff qualification and training records whether contractor staff is competent to do his job safely and aware of how to prevent accidents at workplace and specific skill sets that may be required such as welding or scaffold erection.
Whether contractor is a member of any professional body like HSE or whether he is authorized or having a license to do this type of work since the membership bodies give their membership only after careful evaluation of the contractor competency.
Maintenance records of the contractor equipment, plants, machinery whether the contract is maintaining his equipment in safe condition and safe to use at the warehouse so there will not be any accident due to faulty equipment.
Past experience in work closely related to the planned work of segregating pathways.
Details of previous and current clients of the contractor to see the performance of the contractor in respect to Health and Safety
Accident history records of the contractor, record of any enforcement action was taken by legal authorities against him, if there would be any case and he gets heavy penalty and imprisonment, my warehouse business activity will be at a halt.
Proof of adequate resources like safety equipment, sufficient number of workers, enough PPEs for all his workers, and whether the Contractor is having the accessibility of any specialist safety advice during his work or not.
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Task 4:- To satisfy the expectations of the Inspector, you have developed a formal safety management system in line with ISO 45001. Based on the scenario only, what are the likely benefits to the organization of having this formal safety management system?
Answer- Benefits to the organization on implementing an ISO 45001 based safety management system includes moral, legal, financial gains apart from reducing accidents and improving safety performance. Below are other specific benefits-
Having a structured management approach based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle concept which will simplify day today safety management across all 100 stores nationally. Currently, there is no system for recording near misses in written format, no HS representative chosen, no written system for registering complaints.
Being able to demonstrate the commitment of top management by setting a policy, a framework of OHS objectives, and targets. This will help to reduce worker absence and turnover as the commitment will be clear to workers.
Being able to comply with all legal requirements, closely monitor compliance and thus avoiding any fines, prosecutions from regulatory authorities.
Being able to deal with non-conformities and deficiencies and having a monitoring arrangement. Currently, there is no system to attend to complaints.
Being able to fulfill the needs and expectations of the workers and stakeholders. Leadership and worker participation in the core of an OHSMS and can be achieved through safety committees, feedback systems, etc. This will also boost worker morale and improve productivity and ownership at all levels.
Being able to consider internal issues, external issues, needs, and expectations of workers and stakeholders while making the framework. This will help the organization to consider varied aspects while doing risk assessments and make them suitable and sufficient.
Being able to specify roles and responsibilities for each worker and manager. This will avoid confusion and encourage the store manager to address worker complaints, take a site tour thus involving his role in safety management.
Being able to improve the reputation of the organization by complying with a standard. ISO 45001 standards will give recognition in the market and attract more customers and clients towards the business giving financial gain and competitive advantage.
Being able to facilitate consultation and participation from workers before decision-making. Currently, workers’ inputs and complaints are not being responded to or considered. This will improve ownership and boost worker morale.
Being able to set criteria on how to assess worker competence, how to improve their awareness towards risks, how to manage internal and external communication, how to allocate sufficient resources, and how to document information that may be used as evidence when labor inspector revisits for future inspection.
Being able to implement management of change, informing workers on the progress of changes, its reasons, and benefits and thus keep all workers in the loop.
Having a system in place for emergency management and preparedness. The hospital being 8 km away would require the organization to do a first aid assessment and provide suitable facilities in the warehouse.
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Task 5:- What are the negative indicators of safety culture at the warehouse?
Answer- Indicators showing negative safety culture includes-
Unsafe behavior and acts that include rule-breaking in the warehouse, stacking goods in aisles, stepping into vehicle zones.
Absence of written records for all near-misses that have been verbally reported.
A repeat of more serious injury and records of many injuries in the past indicate poor safety performance and lack of action from management to improve safety performance
High worker absence and turnover as understood from the staff records possibly due to high rate of accidents and poor commitment from management. It could also be due to excessively long working hours which is currently at 48 hours a week instead of the standard 40 hours a week by 8hrs for 5 days a week shift system.
Absence of health and safety worker representative as understood from the records possibly due to lack of election arrangement in place.
Absence of written records or worker complaints and their verbal account of not seeing management visit the warehouse for safety tours.
Poor leadership, commitment, and negative attitude towards safety from management/warehouse manager which is evident from his perception of lack of money and that it would cause disruption to business.
Absence of suitable and sufficient risk assessment and the fact that it does not reflect actual risks in the warehouse. This shows poor attention while doing the risk assessment
Absence of arrangement to review safety performance as of now evident from the fact that it is being planned to be done in the future based on the inspector’s feedback.
Using Young workers (vulnerable category) for critical tasks like FLT driving. They are likely to be inexperienced, untrained, or having excessive enthusiasm which may make them more vulnerable to accidents.
Absence of first aid provisions which is understood by the fact that injured worker had to be rushed to the hospital which is 8km away. This shows poor planning and foresight.
Possible absence of procedures on mobile phone usage especially during driving or a possible violation of procedures and associated disciplinary action.
The fact that worker is having to take legal advice for seeking compensation rather than the organization offering him support, rehabilitation, compensation, and access to OH support.
Task 6:- What do you need to consider so that first-aid needs are realistic and proportionate for the warehouse workers?
Answer- For the first aid needs to be realistic and proportionate for warehouse workers, following need to be considered
Activities and nature of work at the warehouse and Risk & hazards present in the warehouse that includes the movement of vehicles like forklift, using hazardous chemicals, using hardware DIY goods and putting them on shelves. These activities pose could cause various types of harm such as breaking bones upon collision with FLT, chemical exposure to hazardous substances, manual handling injuries, entrapping at automatic door.
Past accident history, previous near-misses, previous collisions that happened at the warehouse, and what were the consequences of the incidents like what were the injuries or ill health to the workers, what level of treatment was required.
The geographical location of the warehouse that is located on the outskirts of a large town served by good roads and distance from the nearby Hospital is 5 miles which are very far the workers cannot get immediate medical help.
Work pattern and shift systems. The current system involves 12 hours work duration which is long and workers may tend to lose focus and concentration. Night Shift poses an increased risk of injury to due lighting conditions causing slip, trip and falls and overall efficiency at night will be lesser than the day shift.
Availability of trained First aiders at the warehouse. Scenarios depict a possible absence of first-aiders
Presence of vulnerable workers. In this case, young workers are present who are more prone to accidents and injury.
Total several workers. The provisions like first aid equipment should be sufficient in quantity for 24 people working.
The spread of the ware house concerning areas which are more prone to accidents. First aid provisions should be stored where the likelihood of an accident is higher.
Task 7:- Decide what level of investigation (minimal, low, medium, high) is appropriate in this case, clearly justifying each step you take that leads to your decision.
Answer- A A high level of investigation would be taken in this case
Likelihood of recurrence
Certain, Likely, Possible, Unlikely, Rare
The potential worst consequence of the adverse event
Minor, Serious, Major, Fatal
Likelihood is very likely, since many such incidents have occurred in the past as given in the scenario.
Consequence is Major or can even be fatal, as collision with FLT broke his bone which required 6 weeks of medical care and there are possibilities for more severe injury and even fatality.
A high-level investigation will involve a the team-based investigation, involving supervisors or line managers, health and safety advisers, and employee representatives. It will be carried out under the supervision of senior management or directors and will look for the immediate, underlying, and root causes.
A high the level investigation will help function as reactive monitoring and analyze trends. It will focus on root cause analysis and prevent it in the future. It will also give an idea on what new control measures to implement, which in this case was to appoint an external contractor to design the dedicated pathways. It will also help to find the costs behind the accident, to comply with legal requirement considering the level of the accident, to initiate disciplinary actions against workers who were involved or in breach and to process claim from an insurance agency.
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Task 8:- What individual human factors could have negatively influenced the behavior of the young FLT driver?
Answer- Individual human factors that could have negatively influenced the behavior of the young driver include-
Poor perception since he is young and lack experience and possibly training too. He may not have been able to recognize spilled oil to be a slip hazard while driving FLT.
Routine and repetitive tasks of driving FLT could have reduced his attention levels and led to failure of identifying the risk of spilled oil and hard braking.
Fatigue and stress due to long working hours especially towards the end of shift could have deprived his perception towards identifying the risk.
Attitude could have been influenced by the prevailing negative safety culture which is evident from poor visible leadership and lack of worker participation.
Peer group pressure could have influenced him because other experienced workers have taken the absence of a structured system lightly and their casual attitude towards high frequency of incidents.
Lack of motivation due to inadequate levels of worker consultation and participation and absence of any incentive schemes or adequate supervision levels or high absence levels
Lack of adequate competence which can be understood by the high number of collision-related incidents. Drivers may not have adequate training, license, experience and supervision to drive FLT safely.
Possible influence of drugs and alcohol. Young workers are more prone to consume drugs and alcohol due to peer influence which will increase reaction time and lead to accidents.
Young workers are more vulnerable to the frequent use of mobile phones and thus more susceptible to get distracted to the excessive influence of social media on the young generation.
Young workers are more prone to drive faster due to higher enthusiasm and thrill factor which may have also been a factor
Task 9:- The investigation into the recent accident, when a worker’s leg was broken, is now focusing on management failures. Based on the scenario only, what management failures could have contributed to this accident? alert-warning
Answer- Management failures that could have contributed to the accident include-
Failure to identify hazards and risks arising from routine activities, unsafe behaviors, and conditions visible at the warehouse
Failure to provide an arrangement to report near misses in written format and to review the same to take further action.
Failure to provide clear & written Policy, rules & regulation, absence of safety management system and not kept any provision of disciplinary actions against the violation of rules & regulations inside the warehouse by workers.
Failure to identify root causes and analyze from past incidents and take further new control actions to avoid repetition of similar incidents in the future.
Failure to depute experienced workers for critical activities like FLT driving. Young workers need more supervision and should be avoided for critical activities.
Failure to provide adequate training on FLT operation to understand the correct braking technique.
Failure to control violations and develop a policy on mobile phone usage while at work.
Failure to organize safety inspections and safety tours as part of active monitoring to identify oil spillages, blockages of walking paths, etc.
Failure to assess first aid requirements and provide the necessary equipment, arrangements, and first-aiders at the site.
Failure to address causes for high attrition and absence rates and failure to appoint a worker representative as required by the law.
Failure to provide arrangements for written reporting of complaints, addressing them and to show visible leadership through safety tours and site visits by top management.
Failure to give priority to safety and the attitude maintained by a top manager
Failure to review safety performance and making risk assessments not in a specific, suitable, and sufficient manner.
Management has failed to develop & implement the suitable control measure giving the excuses to money problem and if money available also, then disruption of the business.
Task 10:- (a) Based on evidence from the scenario only, comment on how the organization is performing in the following areas (i) active and reactive monitoring. (ii) the adequacy of current risk assessments. (iii) operational procedures and rules. (iv) compliance with legal requirements. (b) Based on evidence from the scenario only, what sources of benchmarking information could be used?
Answer- 10 (a) (I) Organization is not performing well as there is no active monitoring like safety inspection, safety survey, safety sampling, safety Audit, and safety tours. Management is not seen on the site as per the scenario.
The organization is not doing any Reactive monitoring like investigation, root cause analysis and review of previous near-misses, previous collisions, analysis of Accident statics like Accident rate, Worker absence, and turnover rate. The organization not collecting any information & data to enhance the performance at the warehouse.
Answer- 10 (a) (ii) Risk assessments are found to be too generic in nature and not considered the specific factors like young workers, night shifts, and do not reflect the actual risks in the warehouse. It has been found not to be suitable and sufficient as required for the site.
Answer- 10 (a) (iii) There appears to be a lack of organizational procedures about mobile phone usage at work, method statements for specific work, rules on where it is allowed to walk, and where it is not. Lack of procedures on where to stock the goods, procedures for reporting near misses and complaints, procedures for dealing with emergencies.
Lack of rules about usage of dedicated FLT-only pathways and on storage of hardware stock. Past relevant data is also not be considered during the risk assessment.
Answer- 10 (a) (iv) The the organization has not complied with the legal requirements of HASWA Act 1974, The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 as there are more than 5 workers at warehouse. It is clearly visible from the warehouse that it is in breach of ILO conventions C155 and recommendations R164. Situations like young person assigned for high-risk activities like FLT driving without supervision, not doing a proper risk assessment, not creating provision of First Aid & First Aiders, Not able to provide a safe workplace, Safe plant, and machinery.
Answer- 10 (b) Sources for benchmarking includes safety performance within the warehouse in the past months and years and its trend, safety performance of other branches in the country, accident incidence rates across other branches, near miss statistics across branches, training and competency records of workers, staff turnover rates and absence rates across branches, formal order records in the past, audit, and inspection data.
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Conclusion & Suggestion
As you see above NEBOSH IG1 Open Book Exam Questions & Answer is shown to you the purpose of this is that you will have an idea and tips for NEBOSH OBE Answer writing techniques, you can also download the previous question papers by clicking the question paper download link. If you have any questions or doubts then please don’t hesitate to comment.
So, These were the questions asked in the first OBE Examination, hope you have now an idea of how questions will be asked in the NEBOSH -IGC OBE exam for better preparation, All the Best.
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