NEBOSH IGC 2 February 2022 Solved Paper

NEBOSH IGC 2 February 2022 Scenario

A car showroom for an international car sales organisation is situated on an industrial estate on the outskirts of a town.  The showroom mainly sells new cars but occasionally sells used ones.  Car sales are driven by ambitious targets. If these targets are met, the sales force receive large financial bonuses. The Managing Director (MD) reports to the regional, national, and international Boards and delegates the responsibility for meeting sales targets to the Head of Sales (HoS).

The indoor showroom is a single storey building, with an open plan design. The centre of the showroom displays four examples of the new cars for sale. Towards the back of the showroom are three desks where the sales team talk with customers. To the right of the desk areas are two separate offices. One office is occupied by the HoS, and one by the MD. Next to these offices is a waiting area that includes a drinks dispensing machine, a few tables and chairs (for information displays, customer seating, etc) and a television. Various new and used cars are parked in neat rows around most of the outside of the showroom building. Also outside, near the entrance, there are twelve dedicated parking bays for visiting customers, vehicles for test driving and vehicles being prepared for handover to customers.

The HoS has 10 years’ service at the showroom. They are driven by car sales, usually at the expense of safety. This attitude is shared by the leadership team and the Sales Supervisor. The Sales Supervisor has 5 years’ service and has a strong influence on those reporting to them, including a very impressionable 17-year-old sales apprentice. The sales team all get along very well and are given a great deal of freedom to do what they like; what matters most is getting the job done and achieving the sales targets. As a result, most of the sales team take chances for the greater good of the team and to maximise bonuses. The sales apprentice, in an attempt to ‘fit in’, thinks it is humorous to use the fire extinguisher to wake up the Sales Supervisor who is sleeping during their break. The Sales Supervisor sees the comical side and puts the fire extinguisher back.

The remaining member of the sales team is a senior salesperson. They have worked at the showroom for a long time. They are more cautious than the others and have safety concerns.

One of these concerns is about the lack of attention paid during the movement of vehicles. Although there are signs saying, ‘do not use mobile phones while in vehicles’, the senior salesperson has observed near misses due to ‘rushing’ the job, the apprentice using their phone while driving, and speeding in the car park in an attempt to ‘show off’. They think some of this is due to a lack of training and supervision, having witnessed a very short induction with the apprentice. There have been other, similar, events in the past, some involving minor injuries. But there is no record of any of these near misses or injuries.

In the last 12 years, only one fire-related incident has been recorded. This was a false alarm, where a child had read the instructions on one of numerous fire call points that read ‘Break glass, press here’, so that is exactly what the child did! The Sales Supervisor had assumed the role of fire marshal, and although untrained, escorted visitors and workers to the assigned assembly point nominated in the written emergency procedure. Not even the workers really knew what they were doing, as such events do not happen very often, and no one can remember ever practicing the emergency procedure.

The senior salesperson talks, in confidence, to the Sales Supervisor about these safety concerns. Surprisingly, the Sales Supervisor replies that management feel that overall fire risk is low and there is no need for frequent fire drills. The senior salesperson is confused and highlights that petrol vehicles are in the showroom, and emphasises the compliance obligations to inform, check, learn and improve through such drills. They finish the conversation by pointing out that all the fire action notices around the building are not just there for the benefit of visitors, but to help protect people and to satisfy insurers too. Despite these personal concerns, the senior salesperson still feels a lot of pressure to fit in with the rest of the group, and not worry about the unsafe working that has become common practice.

The MD is somewhat detached from the day-to-day practical operations because of attendance at various off-site exhibitions, national and international conferences, and frequent online meetings. As

a result, they delegate the daily ‘running’ of showroom to the sales team and any health and safety responsibilities to the HoS. However, the HoS has not had any specific health and safety training to fulfil this role. Although the senior salesperson has bravely raised the fire evacuation testing safety issue with the MD in the past, the MD sees no reason to challenge unsafe behaviours and interfere with a successful team if it is meeting the sales targets. However, they do accept that there have been some lucky escapes from incidents that could have been more serious. But nothing bad has happened so far, so why worry? The senior salesperson respectfully suggests a different view that profits and bonuses can be wiped out easily by the large costs associated with even one workplace accident. In addition, the unwelcome attention of enforcement agencies and the media. The senior salesperson’s view is that is just a matter of time before a serious accident happens.

That same day, in the late afternoon, the Sales Supervisor asks the apprentice to move a car from the car park to a hardstanding location right in front of the entrance, ready for customer collection. The apprentice locates the car, as instructed. As they move the car to the required location, they answer a call on their mobile phone, and stop the car in front of the showroom. While simultaneously raising the mobile phone to their ear with one hand and exiting the vehicle, they trip over the seatbelt which has not quite fully retracted. They stretch out their other arm to cushion the fall onto the concrete hardstanding. The apprentice hastily gets up, looks around in embarrassment to see if anyone is looking, and acts as if nothing has happened. However, the Sales Supervisor witnessed the seemingly harmless-looking incident. Later, the two of them have a conversation in the rest area about the incident.  The Sales Supervisor promises to spare the apprentice embarrassment by saying “It is a matter for you, and you alone; as long as you don’t say a word to anyone else, neither will I”.

The following day, the apprentice arrives at work with a plaster cast on their wrist. Their wrist had swollen and become tender and painful. They had gone to hospital and had an X-ray that confirmed a small fracture of the wrist. The plaster cast allows limited movement of the fingers. The Sales Supervisor talks to the apprentice and advises them to say that they fell off a bike at home should anyone ask. The apprentice agrees and does not see this as a problem. They are put on light duties until further notice. The senior salesperson is suspicious, and later takes the apprentice aside and informs them about the implications of accidents at work.

Task 1: The influence of peers

When people get together into groups, they interact with each other, and Workers are often influenced by their peers (Companions, group members, colleagues) at the workplace.

The base of the scenario below mentions the influences of peers on health and safety at the car showroom.

• Peer group influenced the safety culture of the showroom as sales apprentice in an attempt to fit in thinks it is humorous. At the same time, the supervisor keeps the fire extinguisher back without any instruction; thus, the behavior of both indicates a negative culture.
• Competition because of peer group resulting incident or accident, as near-miss accoutred in the showroom because of rushing the job which indicates unsafe behavior because of peer group competitions.
• Work-related violence is in place because of peers as apprentice using his mobile while driving, which indicates the negative safety culture.
• Misusing the assets results from peer groups on the showroom as an apprentice speeding the cars.
• Supporting culture is a form of negative culture that creates peer relations as the MD sees no reasons to challenge unsafe behavior and interfere with the success team if it meets targets.
• Poor Practice as MD and supervisor evacuated the workers and visitors during an emergency, but they both don’t have a proper fire marshal.
• Showroom workers did not report previous near misses and accidents because of peer competition or might because of embarrassment, which is also poor safety management system been placed by Peer.
• Unsafe working has become common practice because of the peer group as young and new workers don’t care about safety which indicates poor behavior about safety.
• Work-related violence by pretending workplace accidents as normal. The bike accident also resulted in the peer group as the sales supervisor witnessed the accident but did not report it.

Task 2: Emergency procedures

Answer (a)

Positive points about fire safety arrangements at the car showroom

Fire safety plans define arrangements for implementations, controlling, monitoring, and reviewing fire safety standards. Following are the positive points of fire safety management arrangements:

• Proper fire fighting equipment and fire/emergency detection/emergency alarm points (MCPs) are in place to detect the emergency situation in the showroom.
• A proper emergency procedure is in place for following in case of an emergency.
• Proper actions were notified in case of fire around the building because the existing fire hazard was highlighted “as patrol vehicles are in place and petrol is a highly flammable liquid,” which is beneficial for workers and visitors. Also, plan to comply with the obligations to inform, check, learn, and promote the emergency drills system.
• Proper written instructions have been provided with fire fighting and emergency alarm points by graphic communications (safety signs); as mentioned in the scenario, the child had read the instructions posted on/close to MCP.
• A properly designed assembly point has been nominated as mentioned in the scenario for escorting the worker & visitors to that point in case of any emergency condition.

Answer (b)

Negative points about fire safety arrangements at the car showroom

Many substances existing at the workplace are related to fire hazards. As mentioned in the scenario, the patrol vehicle is placed in which patrol is highly flammable; therefore, in case of the poor arrangement of fire safety, the organization will get much more loss than they earn. There are some negative points of health and safety management system at car showroom which are mention below:

• The untrained Fire Marshal has been nominated to escort the visitors and workers to the assembly point, indicating a poor fire safety management system because the fire marshal must be properly trained and have proper fire marshal certification with familiarity to deal with forcible emergency conditions.
• There is no proper training/practice about the emergency procedure, as what is the role of workers in case of emergency. What they have to do, how to escape from the building etc. 
• No priority/consideration on fire safety management because, as per the scenario, the management considers the showroom as a low-risk area; therefore, as per showroom management, there is no need for the fire drill, which indicates negative safety culture existing in the organization.
• Misuse of fire fighting equipment “as mentioned in the scenario, apprentice humorously use the fire extinguisher to wake up the supervisor.” All fire fighting equipment must be in order and proper working condition 24 hours and free of obstruction also easily accessible in case of emergency.
• No training has been provided to workers about fire fighting equipment, as training enables the workers about the using of fire fighting equipment and how to use it. Therefore proper training wouldn’t let the worker to misuse the fire extinguisher. 
• No competent/certified safety staff for managing health and safety in the showroom “as mentioned in scenario HOS has not had any specific health and safety training” who can carry out a proper fire risk assessment to identify the hazards and risk associated with that hazards moreover find out the control measure of it.
• No Organisation chat with proper nominated ERT (Emergency Response Team), as per the scenario only sales supervisor played the role of fire marshal with the help of MD to handed past incident while other ERT members also supposed to be there for the handle that emergency which is indication poor fire safety arrangements.
• As per the layout mentioned in the scenario,” there is no emergency procedure for new cars which has been displayed in the center of showroom indicates poor fire safety management, as to how to bring out the cars from the showroom and the designed escape routes also the nomination of an apprentice.
• No reporting about work-related violence or investigation system about violence, which indicates the negative behavior or poor fire safety management system. As the sales supervisor sees the comical side and puts the fire extinguisher back without any instructions to apprentice about the seriousness of the placement fire extinguisher also did not take any administrative action.
• Poor location of emergency alarm/MCP system indicates poor fire safety management system because as per the scenario, the child has broken the glass of MCP easily due to easy access for a small child, while it supposed to be located on the limited range with proper cover also the instructions which were mention there, were also incomplete because as per the scenario it was mention “Break the glass Press here” which is incomplete instructions. The showroom is a service sector area where the child also can enter with their guardians, so these things must be considered while planning the design of fire safety equipment location.

Answer (c)

Importance Of Practicing Emergency Procedures

• An emergency procedure is a written method to deal with major foreseeable incidents at the workplace. Below are the reasons that define the importance of the emergency procedure practice.
• Emergency procedure practices promote safety awareness and show the Organisation’s commitment to workers’ safety.
• Emergency procedure practices will clearly define the future action plans, responsibilities of the Organisation, duties of response team members, and responsibilities of workers to avoid confusion in case of an actual incident.
• The practice of emergency procedures will help notify the weakness or possible changes in the plan that can be corrected before an emergency.
• It will provide clear guidelines about escape routes for workers to get to the assemble point. It will elaborate the entire process, such as using a staircase instead of waiting for the elevator, avoiding the rush, not taking any item with them, using the nearest emergency exit point for exit instead of the regular route.
• Emergency practices will identify all necessary sources as to what exact origins need to be arranged before an emergency occurred like first aid kid with the first aider need to put because while the evacuation if anyone injures first aider can provide initial treatment until proper medical help is in place.

Task 3: Accident reporting

Answer (a)

Reporting of incident and accident will help to find the exact root cause of the accident and will determine the risk elimination, below mention are the sales supervisor approach to report about the accident,

The poor reporting system is in place from top management to down; therefore supervisor did not report the accident even witnessed.

There is no trust to follow up on the accident as many incidents had happened before in the showroom, but there is no follow-up by the management for corrective action; thus, this behavior forces him not to report.

Poor safety performance, as apprentice been embarrassment and sales supervisor, promises to spare the apprentice embarrassment.

Blame culture might trigger the supervisor not to report an accident as he could be blamed for not providing training or instruction.

Reporting active Investigation systems and investigation often take a long time to complete. There is already a poor priority in safety in the showroom as targets are a priority than safety; thus, time-wasting because of investigation had discouraged for not to report.

Answer (b)

An accident report is a formal document that specifies the details of the facts related to the workplace. Below mention is the way which employer will use to report the accident.

The employer will provide immediate response to give by first aid, and medical assistance will also be called if necessary and hospitalized the victim if necessary.

The employer will organize an investigation team to find out the facts of the accident.

All gathered information will be analyzed and determine the root cause of the accident.
Complete action will be a plan to prevent such accidents in the future.

Employer will take needful action to provide all requirements for corrective action to prevent accidents in the future.

Task 4: The legal reasons for health and safety management

ILO sets out some legislation for the health and safety of the workers. Also, most of the countries adopted laws on the health and safety of workers. Moreover, some enforcement agencies exist in every country that enforces organizations to comply with safety rules.

Some legal reasons are mentioned below for managing health and safety in the Showroom.

• A severe accident will result in the unwelcome attention of enforcement agencies that can lead to fines, punishment, or both will be imposed on the employer, which can be a case of wiped out profit. Thus, Showroom needs to manage the organization’s proper safety system to avoid enforcement action.
• The proper health and safety management system will help get the compensation, as no one can stop incidents and accidents. If any accident or incident occurs, the employer manages even proper safety; the employer will be entitled to get compensation.
• ILO, Convention C155, has advised the employer for ensuring the workplace under their control, machinery, equipment, and process under their control; thus, the Showroom has to manage health and safety to fulfill the requirement of ILO
• The major accident will result in the interference of media in the workplace, which will spoil the organization’s reputation. Therefore Showroom has massive business and its public service sector, so they have to manage health and safety for maintaining their reputation.
• All organizations have their self-regulations or self-polices, which will help adopt appropriate health and safety standards. It also shows the management’s commitment regarding health and safety. Therefore, a proper health and safety management system in the Showroom will reflect management commitment.
• Most countries have legislation of health and safety for workers that should be fulfilled to get business licenses, and breaches of the law may result in the cancelation of licenses.
• The health and safety management system will increase prosperity and improve the living standard which will attract the workers to work in the organization and also it will have a great attraction of clients because clients also want the organization which should be safe and can fulfill their required works safely without any enforcement action.
• Some of the laws related to health and safety control antisocial behavior. Therefore, a proper safety management implementation system in the Showroom will help fulfill these requirements as there are some negative behavior issues in the Showroom that can be controlled by implementing a safety management system.
• The health and safety management system will help adopt new technology that is often legally obliged on the employer to provide a workplace example that instead of MCP, many new technologies have been launched to detect the emergency.

Task 5: Workers’ responsibilities in the workplace

Some duties and responsibilities have been imposed on workers by ILO international labor organization, Convention C155 for workers safety, but showroom apprentice had contravened these responsibilities. The following contravened are mentioned below:

• As per Article 19, while performing the job, the apprentice has not safely fulfilled the job by avoiding safety rules because the vehicle could be hit with the building or other vehicle while using mobile.
• Workers must cooperate with the employer by following safety and health rules while the apprentice did not cooperate with the organization, as the seat belt has not retracted before exit.
• Adequate information and instructions have been given to workers to maintain health and safety, but the apprentice did not follow as to drive by one hand while using mobile with other hand. Also, exiting from the vehicle, he did not switch the phone, and because of his busy hand, he did not retract the seat belt properly.
• Proper training has been provided to workers about their job, but the apprentice did not follow the instruction given in training as he used mobile while driving, which is strictly prohibited.
• Workers should consult with the employer about all safety aspects, but the apprentice failed in it as he acted that nothing had happened and did not consult with the employer or top management about this incident.
• As per ILO Article, 19 workers should report to the supervisor immediately about health and safety issues, but the showroom apprentice did not report to either supervisor by himself or top management for this incident as to take control measures for further accident prevention. 
• The employer has to take remedial action; the employee is not required to return to work in severe injury conditions. However, the apprentice reported working the next day while getting a fracture, affecting the daily operation and the organization’s reputation.  
• Workers should take care of their safety and health and the safety of other people around them, but as per the scenario, the apprentice neither cares about his health and safety nor care about others because his unsafe behavior by using mobile while driving could hit the car in building or to her person, and no proper retracted seat belt could be dangerous for the other person who is going to use the vehicle after him.
• Use safety equipment provided by the employer and do not temper it while showroom apprentice has temper seatbelt. 
• Apprentice has breached health and safety rules by hiding the facts of the incident and pretending that he has fallen from bike to avoid further investigations.

Task 6: Near misses

An investigation is a thorough search for facts, especially hidden or need to be sorted out in a complex situation. The aim of near-miss investigations are mentioned below:

• Near miss investigation will permit showroom management to take the proper action to prevent recurrence because this could be a significant accident.
• Near miss investigation will help improve health and safety management in the showroom to ensure this kind of incident will never be repeated.
• The investigation will help improve the performance of cars showroom about health and safety.
• The investigation will help increase showroom apprentices morale as employees will assure that the organization cares about their workers.
• Near miss investigation will prevent the showroom from direct and indirect losses that might foreseeably impose if the same kind of near-miss changes into significant accidents.
• Near miss investigation will inform the experienced workers about a dangerous occurrence that could happen in the future in necessary action not being taken and not following the safety.
• Near miss investigation will help to adopt new technology/machinery required to avoid significant accidents because of machinery technology/machinery.
• Near miss investigation will indicate monitoring as the necessary control measure before a significant accident happens.
• Current showroom legislation will be reviewed and can be changed or regulated if necessary by near-miss investigation.
• Near miss investigation will help to highlight where risk assessment need to review
• Near miss investigation will promote the latest training program in the showroom on all workers, which is precisely required.

Task 7: Health and safety culture

Health and Safety Culture can be defined as beliefs and behaviors of organization relating to health and safety. The negative indicator indicates negative/poor safety culture below mention are the negative safety culture indicators

• Lack of awareness about health and safety legislation and the use of fire fighting equipment’s  indicates negative safety culture in showroom as apprentice to use fire extinguisher to weak supervisor up because don’t have knowledge about fire fighting equipment’s.
• Negative Behaviour indicates to negative health and safety culture in showroom as the apprentice using their phone while driving, and speeding in the car park in an attempt to ‘show off’ even there are signs for not use mobile while driving.
• Lack of interest in health and safety is part of negative safety culture, MD sees no reason to challenge unsafe behaviours and interfere with a successful team if it is meeting the sales targets because they have interest only in targets not safety.
• No recordkeeping system is in place in showroom which indicates the negative health and safety culture as there have been other events occurred in the past, some involving minor injuries. But there is no record of any of these near misses or injuries.
• No health and safety management structure defines negative safety culture in showroom as the Sales Supervisor had assumed the role of fire marshal and escorted visitors and workers to assembly point while there is no any other ERT member involved in this evacuation process also no organisation chart which shows the roles and responsibilities in case of emergency of ERT.
• Lack of training and Knowledge is in place in showroom as untrained fire marshal and uncertified safety representative indicates the negative safety culture because untrained fire marshals escorted visitors and workers while himself don’t have any training about fire marshal also safety representative don’t have specific don’t have specific health and safety training certification to fulfil the role.
• Poor Administrative control defines negative in showroom, because the emergency procedure is in place but  workers don’t have any knowledge they don’t know what’s they are doing in case of emergency thus this administrative controls are not properly effective.
• No priority of health and safety indicates negative safety culture because management feels that overall fire risk is low and there is no need of frequent fir drill. 
• Reactive monitoring system is in placed which is part of negative safety culture, as management thinks that nothing has happen so far in showroom therefore no worry as they are waiting to happen something then they will find out the measures so such acts indicates negative culture.
• Lack of health and safety communication indicates negative safety culture because cars showroom workers don’t communicate with management about safety issues and top management also don’t take it seriously.
• No reporting system in place which is the part of negative safety culture as many incident did not report to management even as per scenario the apprentice trip over the seatbelt which has not quite fully retracted and because of this apprentice stretch out their other arm to cushion the fall onto the concrete hard standing and got fracture but did not report.
• Poor and Untrained supervision related to health and safety in showroom, as per the scenario the Supervisor sees the comical side and puts the fire extinguisher back but did not instruct the apprentice or report to management for arrange proper training for apprentice and brief them the seriousness of fire fighting equipment and the exact use of it. In additional supervisor witnessed the seemingly harmless-looking incident but did not take any further action even stop apprentice not disclose it to someone.
• Lack of health and safety compliance defines negative safety culture in showroom because they apprentice answer a call on their mobile phone while driving even its strictly prohibited to use mobile while driving also  raising the mobile phone to their ear with one hand and exiting the vehicle which is also unsafe and noncompliance of safety rules.
• Poor Performance of showroom management about health and safety indicates negative safety culture because as per the scenario showroom top management don’t focus on safety to think that no think will happen is the weakness of their performance on health and safety management system.
• Human errors identify in scenario which is the part of negative safety culture as supervisor witness the incident but ignore it and ask apprentice to pretend that it was bike accident which is the big human error.
• Lack of Clear direction and leadership indicates negative safety culture as no competent health and safety leadership been provide to apprentice to motivate them about safety.
• No proper resources in place for fire safety management system because there are some essential sources like certified fire marshals, first aider and some other resources are required to emergency but as per the scenario no resources are placed in showroom for fire safety.  
• High incident and rates indicate negative safety culture which has no investigation and no record as well.
• Ill-health rate of showroom is part of negative safety culture as many minor injuries occurred before even one is mention in the scenario whose wrist had been swollen Minority of workers conscious about health and safety because of negative safety culture as only senior salesperson are cautious about safety and health

Task 8: Health and safety management roles and responsibilities

There is a good practice for organizations to Organising proper organization chat with effective roles and responsibilities to achieve their targets regarding health and safety, below mentioned are the effective roles and responsibilities for cars showroom:

Proper health and safety policy should be made and  provide proper direction (appoint Director) to employees as director will ensure good communication is in place in between showroom employees and management, also will ensure that adequate welfare and safety-related requirement been fulfilled

There should be properly certified safety manager in the showroom who have knowledge about safety principles and how to implement the safety to ensure that all necessary risk assessment have been done and control measure are in place

Competent safety manager should carry out an investigation of all accidents and incident to find out the root cause of the incident in order for preventing accidents in future