ELEMENT 5

HEALTH AND
SAFETY
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS 4 –
MEASURING,
AUDIT & REVIEW
1) Identify the term Active/Proactive and Reactive Monitoring – 4 marks

Health and safety performance should be monitored using various methods that fall in to two
broad categories:-

Active/ proactive monitoring: to identify, evaluate and control hazards and risks before they
lead to accidents

Reactive Monitoring: using accidents, incidents and ill health as indicators of performance to
high light areas of concern

2) Outline the proactive monitoring methods – 8 marks

SAFETY INSPECTION: A regular, scheduled activity with comparison to accepted performance

standards. It can be applied to:-
 The routine inspection of a work place
 The statutory inspection of an item by a competent person to fulfill a legal requirement
 The periodic inspection of plant and machinery as part of a planned maintenance
programme (mechanic inspect the brakes of a lorry on a regular basis)
 The pre-use checks carried out by workers before the use certain items
SAFETY SAMPLING: It is a regular random exercise in which unsafe acts and conditions are
noted and recorded. The w o r k p l a c e is divided into routes, which assigned observers walk
in an allotted time scale, noting incidence of health and safety defects on pre prepared safety
sampling sheet. The safety sampling sheets include tables of grouped and coded retrospective
and prospective unsafe conditions and practices. Observers should report serious defects or
hazards immediately. The number of non compliance is then converted to provide a score of
overall effectiveness of the safety performance
SAFETY SURVEY: A detailed examination of one particular issue or topic, e.g. a detailed
examination of the provision of emergency lighting within a building
SAFETY TOURS: A high profile inspection of a work place carried out by a group or team
including managers. One of the objectives of the tour is to raise the profile of health and safety
and to demonstrate management interest and commitment
BENCHMARKING: Comparing the health and safety performance of two organizations to
identify the weakness and to adopt the good health and safety practices
HEALTH SURVEILLANCE: Periodical medical examination of employees
AUDIT: is the systematic, objective, critical evaluation of how well organization‘s management
system performed by examining evidence
3) Outline the strengths AND weaknesses of using a checklist to complete a health and safety
inspection of a workplace. (8 marks)

The strengths of using a checklist to complete an inspection include:

Allows for prior preparation and planning so that the inspection can be structured and
systematic, Reduces the chance that important areas/issues may be missed, Provides an
immediate record of findings, Enables a consistent approach by those carrying out the
inspection, provides an easy method for comparison and audit

The weaknesses of using the checklist system may cause:

Over-reliance on the checklist leading to a “blinkered” (narrow) approach and the possibility
that important risks are might be missed. The checklist not to be reviewed and updates made
when there are changes to work processes and equipment, Inspections to become strictly
routine w ith no “follow-up” questions being asked. The system is to be too objective and
restrictive with no scope for including peripheral issues. Untrained people to be tempted to
carry out inspections and the procedure could be affected by human error and/or abuse.

4) Identify Reactive Monitoring – 8 marks

Reactive measures include the accident and ill health statistics, reporting of near misses and
dangerous occurrences, reporting of property damage, actions taken by the enforcement
authorities, number of civil claims, analysis of absences and lost time, analysis of costs
involved in the incidents.

5) Define Health and Safety Auditing – 3 marks

Auditing is the systematic, objective, critical evaluation of how well organization‘s management
system performed by examining evidence.

6) Outline the Scope and Purpose of Auditing – 5 marks

Appropriate management arrangements are in place

Adequate risk control systems exist – that they are implemented and are consistent with the
hazard profile of the organization
Appropriate workplace precautions are in place

7) Identify the Documents examined during an Audit – 8 marks

Health and Safety policy

Risk assessments and safe systems of work
Training records
 Minutes of safety committee meeting
Maintenance records and details of failures
Records of health and safety monitoring activities (tours, inspections, surveys, etc.)
Accident investigation reports and data including near miss information
Emergency arrangements
Inspection reports from insurance companies
Output from regular visits (visit reports, enforcement actions, etc.)
Records worker complaints

8) Describe the Audit Process – 8 marks

Pre-audit preparations: before the audit starts the following should be defined;
 The scope of the audit – will it cover health and safety, or health, safety and environmental
management as well?
 The area of audit – one department, one whole site or all sites
 The extent of the audit – fully comprehensive (which may take weeks) or more selective?
 Who will be required - auditors will need to be accompanied during their visit, need access to
managers and workers to gather in formations
 Information gathering – auditors should be provided with relevant documents before starting
the audit, so that they can prepare
During the Audit: auditors use three methods to gather factual information;
 System Documents – the documents and records which indicate what should be happening
and what has happened relevant to a particular issue
 Interviews – word-of-mouth evidence given by managers and workers
 Direct observation – of the work place, equipments, activities and behaviour
At the end of the Audit:
 Verbal feedback is given
 Fare presentation by audit team
 Verbal feedback will be followed by a written report. Report will make recommendations for
improvement with an indication of priorities and time scales

9) Outline the advantages and disadvantages of internal audit – 8 marks

Advantages: Internal audit is cheaper, Easier to arrange, Auditors are familiar with the
workplace and with work force, Auditor and auditees relationship will be transparent and
friendly

Disadvantages: May be more influenced by internal relationships, Conclusions may not take
seriously by organization, May be biased, e.g. audit scores creating competition between
departments, May be so familiar with organization that assumptions influence conclusions,
Not full filling the legal requirements.
10) Outline the advantages and disadvantages of external audits – 8 marks

Advantages: Not influenced by of internal relationships, increased formality and experience may
give more weight to conclusions. Independent of internal competition. Independence
requires auditors to ask obvious questions rather than make a s s u m p t i o n s . Full fill the legal
requirements

Disadvantages: More expensive to arrange. More time required to organize. May be more
formal and therefore more threatening to auditees, If the auditors are not familiar with
work procedure they suggest impractical control measures.

11) Outline the key features of a health and safety inspection a n d a health and safety audit - 8
marks

Health and safety inspections

 Identifies hazards that are not controlled to a standard
 Physical inspection only
 Identifies unsafe conditions and some unsafe actions which are immediate causes of accidents

Health and safety audit

 Tests the existence, adequacy and use of safety management systems
 Includes physical inspection, interviews and documentation checks
 Identifies organizational failures which are root causes of accidents and ill health
 Very proactive

12) Explain how the findings of an audit may be used to improve health and safety performance –
8 marks

The findings of a safety audit may be used in a number of ways to improve health and safety
performance, which include identifying strengths and weaknesses in the management system,
identifying the compliance and non-compliance with the standards, identifying the remedial
actions, enables the benchmarking with other organizations, assist in the continual
improvement of the organization by regular audit intervals, assists in allocation and prioritize
the resources, communicate these findings to the staff and the management, improve the
health and safety performance etc.
13) Identify the reasons to investigate accident/incident – 8 marks

To identify the immediate and root causes

To identify corrective action to prevent a recurrence
To record the facts of the incident
For legal requirements
For claim management
For staff morale
For disciplinary purpose
To enable the updating of risk assessment
To discover trends

14) Identify the team members involved in Accident investigation - 5 marks

Line Manager - Familiar with the work location

Supervisor - Form the work location, knows about the local works
Safety Practitioner - Health and safety expert, knows about the work location
Engineer - Technical expert, those can give engineering solutions
Senior Manager - With authority or influence
Specialist - Consultant or specialized in the work

15) Outline the immediate & long term actions that should be taken following a serious accident
at work? OR
A worker seriously injured in the workplace Outline the immediate and long term action that
should be taken - 8 marks

The immediate action include treat the person if safe to do so, call for an ambulance and send
to hospital, inform the dependants, make area safe and cordon off ensuring scene is not
disturbed, notify enforcement authority, speak to any eye witnesses and take photographs,
statements and measurements.
The long term actions include, investigate the accident, identify the immediate and root
causes, give recommendations, report the causes to the management, draw the action plan for
implementation, verify the effectiveness of the implementation, communicate the causes to all
employees etc.

16) Outline the information to be included in the incident investigation report - 8 marks
Investigation report should include date, time and location of incident; Details of injured
person such as name, position and department; Details of injury; Details of person investigated;
Brief details of accident/incident, Details of machinery, chemicals and tools involved,
Immediate and root causes; Details of first aid given, Conclusions and Recommendations,
Action to be taken with date of completion, Details of witnesses etc.
17) (a) Outline why an organization should have a system for the internal reporting of accidents –
4 marks
(b) Identify the reasons why workers might not report accidents at work – 4 marks

(a) The reasons include the compilation of accident statistics, identification of trends; to satisfy
legal requirements; for use in civil claims or to satisfy insurance requirements; to identify and
reduce of loss; and to inform the review of risk assessments.

(b) The reasons include employees are not aware of reporting procedures; peer pressure and a
reluctance to take time off from the job in hand; job insecurity, possible blame by
management; to avoid receiving first-aid or medical treatment for whatever reason; over-
complicated reporting procedures, and lack of obvious management response to earlier
reported accidents.

18) Outline the benefits to an employer of conducting accident investigations - 8 marks

The benefits of conducting accident investigation such as the prevention of similar

accidents occurring in the future; facilitating compliance with legal requirements and
obligations; an improvement in the health and safety performance of the organization; an
improvement in the morale of the workforce and their attitude towards health and safety; the
prevention of business loss and the provision of evidence in the event of enforcement action or
a civil claims.

19) A machine has leaked hot liquid into work area no one has injured.
Outline the reasons why it is important for an organization to investigate “near miss” -
8marks

Reasons of investigating near miss to identify the immediate , underlying and root causes of
the near miss such as the prevention of similar near miss occurring in the future; facilitating
compliance with legal requirements and obligations; improving the control measures;
information, instruction and supervision can be improved; an improvement in the health and
safety performance of the organization; an improvement in the morale of the workforce and
their attitude towards health and safety; the prevention of business loss and the benefits of
collecting near miss, it indicates potential for a serious accident; helps to analyze the data and
m anifest management ‘s concern.
20) Other than senior management Identify the people are to be informed about accident report
– 4 marks

Enforcing authority like police and government inspectors, injured person’s family, owner of
assets, insurance company, safety/employee representatives, health and safety and human
resources departments.

21) Outline the different methods that accident investigation reports are to be communicated - 4
marks

Circulate the report through email or written communication; Briefing in meetings; Briefing in
tool box talks; Publishing in magazine; Displaying on notice board; Discussed at top level
meetings and at Management review meeting; Discussed at training sessions.

22) A driver of a fork-lift truck has been seriously injured after the vehicle overturned.
a) Outline the possible immediate causes of the accident in terms of BOTH the behavior of
the driver AND the conditions of the workplace and work equipment – 10 marks

b) Describe the underlying factors that may have led to the unsafe acts or conditions – 10
marks

(a) Immediate causes related with the behavior of the driver (unsafe acts) - What actions
could the driver have made to cause the FLT to overturn, e.g. Driving too fast, Hitting
obstructions, Driving on uneven ground or across slopes, Turning on slopes, Moving with the
load elevated, Driving with an unstable or excessive load, Colliding with another vehicle,
Drowsiness caused by alcohol or drug use.

Immediate causes related with the condition of workplace and equipment (Unsafe
conditions) - What workplace or vehicle condition could have caused the FLT to overturn, e.g.
Potholes, Ineffective brakes, Tires that were under-inflated or in poor condition and Mechanical
failures of the vehicle.

(b) Underlying causes Basic causes - Poor perception of the risk, Unfamiliarity with the
workplace, High workload of the driver causing him/her to rush, Poor selection of vehicle,
Inadequate driver training, Poor employee selection procedure and Inadequate maintenance
procedures (for equipment and or the workplace).

Root causes - Poor or complete lack of risk assessment, A failure to develop a Safe System of
Work, Failure to introduce a system for reporting defects, A general lack of commitment to
health and safety from management, A lack of supervision and A lack of daily FLT inspection.
23) (a) Outline the importance of monitoring as part of a health and safety management system
- 4 marks
(b) Explain why monitoring reports should be submitted to the chief executive or
managing director of the organization – 4 marks

(a) Monitoring is important because it reinforces management's commitment to health and

safety objectives; helps in developing a positive health and safety culture; assures the
compliance with the performance standards; identifies the areas for improvement; enables in
making decisions for remedial measures for any identified deficiencies; assists in setting the
targets for the future improvement of performance; it motivates managers and employees for
better performance and continual improvement.

(b) Monitoring reports should be submitted to the CEO or Managing Director, because, it
include the ultimate responsibility to review the process, he has certain authority to take
appropriate actions, he authorizes the resources necessary for implementation of health and
safety system, he can take the disciplinary actions against employees where necessary and
motivate.

24) (a) Explain how accident data can be used to improve health and safety performance within
an organization – 4 marks

(b) Explain TWO active (proactive) monitoring methods that can be used when assessing an
organization’s health and safety performance – 4 marks

(a) The accident data could be used to identify trends, prevent recurrence, identify problem
areas, given the opportunity for remedial actions, data could be used to compare with others,
to inform and stimulate discussion at joint consultation meetings with the workforce and to
identify the costs of accidents.
(b) Proactive methods includes - Safety sampling where specific areas of occupational health
and safety are targeted; Safety tours, a high profile inspection of a work place carried out by a
group or team including managers. One of the objectives of the tour is to raise the profile of
health and safety and to demonstrate management interest and commitment

25) Give the reasons why hazards to the health of workers may not be identified during a
workplace inspection – 8 marks

The reasons include, the nature of the hazard may not be well understood, e.g. hazards from
contact with biological agents; lack of measuring equipment, e.g. noise; effects may be
chronic rather than acute; the hazard not be visible, e.g. radiation; over familiarity, e.g.
exposure to sunlight; workers are not available during the inspection; unwillingness of
individuals to admit the health problems; low priority for health in the organization; priority to
more immediate and often safety hazards and ultimately the lack of competency of the
inspector.
26) Outline the reasons why an organization should review the its health and safety performance
- 8 marks

Performance review is the final stage of management process and reviews can be done by
monitoring, inspection and audit reports. Review is a part of OHSAS - 18001 health and safety
management system.
Reasons for review the health and safety performance having number of reasons;
To check the adequacy of the health and safety management system and performance
standards against external benchmark
To check whether new legislation or guidance has been applied
To check whether the health and safety policy objectives have been met or need
modification to ensure continuous improvement
To check whether there has been adequate feedback to/from managers
To check whether risk controls are being implemented
To check whether information, instruction and training programmes are effective
To check whether management system learned lesson from failures or not

27) Identify the issues to be checked during the performance review of health and safety of an
organization – 8 marks

Legal Compliance
Accident and incident data
Findings of safety surveys, tours and sampling and work place or statutory inspections
Absence and sickness data
Quality assurance report
Monitoring data/reports/records
External communications and complaints
Consultation
Objectives met
Action for previous reviews
Legal and best practice developments