NEBOSH

MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

UNIT IG1:
For: NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety

Open Book Examination

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Answer sheet IG1-0039-ENG-OBE-V1 Jun24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 1 of 12

Task 1: Influencing health and safety culture

Question 1
Negative Health and Safety Culture Indicators at the Restaurant

Failure to Take Necessary Action in Response to the Problems Reported

The owner failed to take necessary action on the complaints issued by the head
chef on the leaking fridge. It's generally considered a sign of neglecting the issues
relating to health and safety. The delay led to unsafe conditions and the
occurrence of the accident.
1. High Staff Turnover:
 There is a high rate of employee turnover in part-time positions, indicating
a possibility of employee dissatisfaction with working conditions. This also
indicates a lack of continuity and consistency in safety practice.
2. Inadequate Training and Orientation:
 New workers are only allowed one shift to shadow another worker and a
handbook in a single language. Such minimal training will not ensure that
they are fully prepared and know safety procedures. Such conditions are
especially dangerous to the non-native speakers.
3. Poor communication and documentation:
 For example, the leaking refrigerator that was not documented in the
fault logbook as among the areas of possible improvement, is poor
communication and documentation of records critical for spotting and
reducing risks.
4. Inadequate Provision of Personal Protective Equipment:
 The workers are told to wear their own PPE. They will certainly have a lot
of disparities in their protection and safety standards.
5. Outdated Health and Safety Policy:
 This policy was last signed and dated eight years ago. Now, this means
that the policy may not be reflecting the best practices or may not be in
line with the legislature.
6. No Clear Delegation in Emergencies:
 The handbook states that, in case of a fire, the owner will coordinate with
fire services. In the event that the owner is not available, there is no other
person given for follow-up.
7. Casual Attitude Towards Near Misses:
 Near misses are documented, but nothing seems to be actioned in order
to prevent their reoccurrence. This attitude will reflect a reactive rather
than a proactive position on safety.

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 8. Failure to Address Language Barriers:
 The handbook comes in a single language only, which could not be
understood by all workers, particularly the newly arrived.
9. Inadequate Supervision and Support:
 Part-time employees and inexperienced workers, such as the full-time
employee covering the owner, lack support which could result in safety
critical mistakes.

10. Unclear Accident Reporting Procedures:

 The staff is unsure of what is required to be written in the accident book,
suggesting that the workers have not been appropriately trained on
incident reporting.
11. Overworking and Understaffing:
 An ill worker led the owner to become operational to plug the gap, which
would suggest potential understaffing as well as overworking the retained
staff and risking mistakes and accidents.
12. Reactive Rather Than Proactive Safety Measures:
 The ineffectiveness of the 'wet floor' signs indicates that symptoms, not
root causes, are addressed.

There are no regular health and safety meetings.

Holding such meetings indicates arrangements and a willingness to share best

practice

Task 2: Near misses

Question 2
How Investigating Previous Near Misses May Have Prevented the Accident:

1. Identifying Patterns:
 Investigating the previous occurrences of slipping from the refrigerator's
leak would have shown a pattern of behaviour; hence, a hazard exists.
2. Preventative Maintenance:
 An entry in the log book regarding the leak, along with some investigation
into past near misses, would have made a strong case for repairing the
refrigerator.
3. Improving Risk Assessments:
 If near misses were reviewed regularly, then improvements in the

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 assessment of the risk situation would have been updated. Using this
information, new safety protocols are designed and implemented.
4. Raising Awareness:
 More extensive investigation and discussion of near misses lead to
awareness among employees of what is happening and what could
happen, thus resulting in a more safety-conscious environment.
5. Immediate Controls:
 Some immediate controls, such as changed floor cleaning arrangements
or temporary covers, could have been implemented to reduce the risk of
slipping.
6. Management Accountability:
 Near misses are highlighted and therefore ensure that management is
accountable for such hazards when ignored, such as the leaking
refrigerator.
7. Training and Briefings:
 Lessons from near misses would have been useful in training and
briefings to all employees so that they could also be aware of what had
happened and how to avoid it.
8. Improved Documentation:
 More extensive investigation leads to improved documentation regarding
potential hazards and the potential responses associated with them.
9. Enhancing the Safety Culture:
 A more proactive approach to near miss investigations may further
encourage the safety culture by which employees feel empowered to go
forward and report problems without fear of discipline.
10. Complacency:
 Prevent complacency in safety due to constant reminders that potential
risks and hazards do exist and must be adhered to at all times.
11. Updated Policy:
 Lessons from the near-misses will present the need for changes in the
Health and Safety policy so that the new policies are more effective.
12. Trust:
 Whenever management tries to research or look into the causes of near
misses, it helps to build the level of trust of employees regarding free
talks about health and safety.

Task 3: Policy review

Question 3
Why the Restaurant's Health and Safety Policy Needs Reviewing:

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 1. Out-of-Date Policy:
 The health and safety policy were issued eight years ago. Health and
safety laws and best practices have no doubt changed since then, and by
now, it needs updating to conform with.
2. Changes in Workforce Composition:
 Due to increasing immigrant workers and part-time staff, this will need
an update to address their needs and ensure that training and
communication are inclusive.
3. Incident and Near Miss Documentation:
 Current incident reporting and documentation are inadequate. The policy
will have to include clearer procedures for documentation and response
to near misses and incidents.
4. Provision of appropriate PPE:
 The policy will have to be updated to have a section indicating the
provision of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)by the
restaurant as opposed to workers taking care of their protection levels.
5. Training and Induction:
 The policy will be needed to include comprehensive training and
induction programs catered for non-native speakers and ensure all staff
clearly understand safety procedures.
6. Risk Assessments:
 There is no sign of periodic risk assessments. The policy must make it a
mandate for periodic risk assessments to identify and mitigate hazards.
7. Emergency Procedures:
 There should be clear and updated emergency procedures, along with
specific responsibility instead of leaving this duty solely on the owner for
fire services to coordinate.
8. Legal Compliance:
 Periodic review so that the policy is well updated according to existing
local and international health and safety legislation. This can lead to
penalties and enforcement action against the restaurant.
9. Worker Consultation:
 Incorporate mechanisms to consult with workers on safety matters
regularly to enhance the effectiveness of the policy and worker buy-in.
10. First Aid Provision:
 Periodic updating of the policy so that the first aid procedure and
responsible persons are clear to respond rapidly and effectively to
injuries.

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 11. Monitoring and Review:
 The establishment of regular monitoring and review arrangement for its
health and safety practice to ensure improvement in continuity and to
adhere to the policy.

Task 4: Reactive monitoring measures

Question 4
Reactive (Lagging) Monitoring Measures for the Restaurant:

1. Accident and Incident Reports:

 Document detailed records for all accidents and incidents, including slips,
trips, and falls, and try to establish trends and areas for improvement.
2. Near Miss Reports:
 Record near-misses to understand potential hazards and prevent future
accidents through appropriate interventions.
3. Sickness and Absence Records:
 Recording patterns of sickness and absence that might indicate work-
related health issues, alerting to the need for further investigation.
4. Injury and Illness Rates:
 Tracking both injury and illness rates to gauge the effectiveness of
existing safety measures and to identify areas that might need further
focus.
5. Claims and Complaints:
 Monitoring claims for workers' compensation, as well as safety-related
complaints, to identify underlying problems and to rectify them promptly.
6. Inspection Reports:
 Reviewing reports from internal and external safety inspections will help
identify compliance gaps and areas needing improvement.
7. Regulatory Notices:
 Review all regulatory bodies' notices in regard to enforcement or fine
information to ensure compliance and to address identified deficiencies.
8. First Aid Records:
 Entries should be recorded in first aid treatment logs to bring out
common injuries and potential hazards in the workplace.
9. Employee Feedback:
 Receiving feedback from employees regarding issues and incidents at the
workplace enables policy and procedural updates.

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 10. Customer Complaints:
 Monitoring customer complaints related to safety (e.g., tripping hazards
in the dining area) so as to address risks affecting both customers and
staff.
11. Workplace Inspections:
 Conduct regular workplace inspections and document findings in
compliance with safety standards.
12. Review of Safety Training Effectiveness:
 Determine the effectiveness of safety training programs through post-
training evaluations and follow-up incidents to ensure that the needs of
workers are met.

Task 5: Organisational factors

Question 5
What should be identified here are organizational factors within the
restaurant that contributed to the happening of the accident. The points
follow the scenario:

1. Failure to Act Immediately on Reported Issues:

 The reported leaking refrigerator was never addressed with urgency by
the owner despite reports from the head chef and repeat complaints,
which is basically negligence or failure to warn of potential hazards.
2. Failure to maintain equipment:
 The refrigerator leak had been allowed to go on for weeks, and as a
result, the floor was slippery, which was a direct causal effect of the
accident.
3. Equipment fault documentation:
 There was no record of the leaking refrigerator in the equipment fault
logbook, which indicates that maintenance tracking was poor.
4. Poor communication between staff and management:
 The owner failed to communicate the safety issues with the staff, thus
leaving the hazards unresolved and creating misconceptions.
5. High turnover of part-time employees:
 Frequent change in part-time staff can lead to inconsistency in safety
practices and a lack of safety training.
6. Inadequate training for new workers:
 New workers had minimal job shadowing and received a handbook in one
language only, which limited their knowledge about the safety
procedures.

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 7. Inadequate job shadowing:
 Job shadowing for one shift is inadequate for new workers to understand
the safety protocols and operational procedures clearly.
8. Lack of multilingual resources:
 An available safety handbook was only in one language, excluding many
non-native speakers from fully understanding emergency procedures.
9. Inadequate PPE provision:
 Workers were expected to provide themselves with the PPE which may not
match the standards of necessary safety.
10. Inadequate health and safety policy review:
 An outdated health and safety policy of the restaurant had been signed
and dated eight years ago. This showed that safety updates are ignored.
11. Lack of risk assessments:
 There were no risk assessments presented for the kitchen or restaurant.
This shows a fault to identify and mitigate potential hazards.
12. Inadequate response to near misses:
 There were records of near misses in the reports, which were not reacted
to. That points to a lack of recognition and prevention of future accidents.
13. Housekeeping practices are poor:
 The chronic wet floor problem demonstrates that housekeeping practices
were not sufficient to keep a safe environment
14. First aid is not taken seriously:
 Although the owner and the head chef were trained in first aid, there was
no evidence of a first aid plan for more serious incidents.
15. Delegation of inappropriate responsibilities:
 Having a full-time worker deputize without any previous training was risky
and increased the stress and potential errors.
16. Excessive Workload in Busy Periods:
 Overbooking and refusal to turn away customers when the restaurant was
full resulted in excessive workload and stress, causing employees to make
mistakes.
17. Formal Accident Investigation Procedures:
 The restaurant lacked such procedures, which are considered a key
element in preventing similar incidents from happening in the future.

Task 6: Obligations of employers to workers

Question 6
The employer must ensure that the critical obligations of the ILO's R164 are

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met. The points below are pertaining to the case study:

1. Provision of Safe Work Environment:

 Though employers are under obligation to have a safe working
environment, the leaking refrigerator is not within the safe working
condition.
2. Lack of Maintenance and Safety Checks:
 This can be seen when regular maintenance and safety checks were not
maintained, as seen from the ongoing issue with the leaking refrigerator.
3. Inadequate Training and Supervision:
 This refers to poor training and supervision, especially for newly
employed and casual employees, thus placing them at a safety risk.
4. Failure to Implement Safety Policies:
 The apparent obsolescence of the health and safety policy discloses that
there is a failure to implement and update safety procedures.
5. Neglect in Reporting and Documenting Hazards:
 This is also a case of poor reporting since the leaking refrigerator is not
documented in the fault logbook.
6. Inadequate Response to Near Misses:
 Near misses are also captured in the list but not acted upon to prevent
any future occurrences.
7. Failure to Communicate Safety Measures:
 Safety measures are very poorly communicated, especially among
speakers of non-native languages, and are likely to have accidents.
8. Improper Provision of PPE:
 This is poor management; workers should not be required to have their
own PPE since they may not meet the required safety standards.
9. Inadequate Emergency Procedures:
 Emergency procedures are not well communicated and are not practiced
at all, more so with multilingual resources.
10. Lack of Risk Assessments:
 Risk assessment is not conducted, indicating a failure to identify and
mitigate workplace hazards.
11. Inadequate First Aid Response:
 Although it is a case of first aid reported, it is not comprehensive, given
that there was no evidence of a first aid plan.
12. Insufficient Employee Consultation on Safety:
 There is no mention of consultation with employees on matters of safety,

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 a missing input on insights and compliance.

Task 7: Potential benefits of consulting workers

Question 7
 The benefits of consulting workers on matters of health and safety
generally enhance safety at the workplace. The following points
demonstrate such benefits for the scenario:
1. Good identification of risks:
 Workers can identify certain hazards that management may not know,
thus improving overall safety.
2. Enhanced safety awareness:
 Being consulted regularly means all staff will be more aware of safety
issues.
3. Improves staff engagement:
 Engaging the workers in discussions on safety protocols makes them
more committed and engaged.
4. More compliance with safety procedures:
 If workers are consulted on how they think safety procedures should be
put in place, they are more likely to comply with the safety procedures.
5. Implemented safety practices:
 Safety measures would be better implemented if workers are consulted
and understand the reasons for putting in place such safety measures.
6. Better trust and communication:
 When workers and management consult regularly, trust is developed
more and communication is bettered. When the employees feel that
management gives importance to their views and acts on their feedback
they develop a strong trust. This increased trust leads them to
communicate openly without any hesitancy or fear which leads to a
transparent work environment.
7. Reduction in accidents and near misses:
 This directly eliminates the possibility of possible accidents and near
misses in the future, which could have been avoided. For the workers who
are actively involved, their responsiveness towards safety discussions and
actions makes them proactive in determining any potential risks. Their
practical experiences and insights ensure practical safety measures that
greatly contribute to a significant reduction in the rate of accidents and
near misses.
8. Better problem solving:
 Safety issues can be understood as problems to be addressed rationally—
improved safety problem-solving. More relevantly, the approach to

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 collaborative problem-solving is assuredly diverse in perspectives, leading
to creative and effective solutions. Workers' direct involvement assures
the practicability of solutions and makes them suitable to the specific
challenges of their work environment. In summary, this approach will
greatly enhance overall problem-solving abilities within the organization.
9. Increased job satisfaction and morale:
 Valuing workers assures them of job satisfaction and high morale in the
workplace. When employees feel valued because their input is being
acted upon, their job satisfaction increases. High regard breeds morale,
which then breeds high productivity, good teamwork, and a positive
culture at the workplace. High morale reduces the turnover ratio and
lures the best of talents into the organization.
10. Training Programs Become More Effective:
 Worker participation will assist in tailoring training to the actual workplace
challenges or gaps in knowledge. Workers who have participated in
designing training ensure its relevancy and meeting real challenges
associated with work tasks. This customized training approach makes for
a much more engaging training approach and effective one, with the
result of better information retention and application of skills.
11. Precise safety solutions:
 The practical solutions that workers can offer are much more likely to be
effective in the working environment to which they refer.
12. Better reporting of hazards:
 More likely to report hazards—though certainly an effort will be made to
address the hazard if they feel that their concern will be taken seriously.
13. Enhanced general culture on safety:
 An effective safety culture is fostered when workers participate in the
decision-making process concerning safety.

Task 8: Developing a safe system of work (SSOW)

Question 8
The SSOW developed for kitchen activities must have the following to ensure
safety, as supported by the scenario:
1. Risk Assessment of Kitchen Activities:
 There must be a detailed risk assessment of kitchen activities to identify
potential risks: slippery floors and hot surfaces, for example.
2. Clear Procedures in Place for Safe Equipment Use:
 There must be safe and clear procedures for using and maintaining
kitchen equipment to avoid misuse and resultant accidents.
3. Maintenance and Inspection Protocols:

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  All the machinery and other equipment should be properly maintained
and regularly inspected so that the best possible working conditions are
achieved.
4. Proper Training and Supervision of Staff:
 Proper staff training and supervision are required to ensure there are
clearly spelled-out practices of work, and employees comply with them.
5. Adequate PPE Provided:
 A restaurant's management should ensure that proper PPE is provided for
each and every activity in the kitchen.
6. Established Emergency Procedures and Response Plans:
 There should be well-publicized emergency procedures and response
plans for incidents such as fires or serious injuries.
7. Housekeeping and Spill Management:
 Strict housekeeping practices should be implemented for spill
management and keeping the kitchen clean and safe in order to have safe
working conditions.
8. Regular Review and Updating of SSOW:
 Regular review and updating of the SSOW to meet new hazards and
changes occurring in the work environment.
9. Documentation and Record-Keeping:
 Risk assessments, training, and incident reports have to be thoroughly
documented and recorded for purposes of compliance and further
improvement.

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Answer sheet IG1-0039-ENG-OBE-V1 Jun24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 12 of 12