Practice for OBE: Mock Assessment 3

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 the local businesses and the general public. The organisation 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

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work for six weeks to recover from the injury. The injured worker is seeking legal advice in
order to make a claim for compensation.

Worker absence and turnover is 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
business.

As a result of the recent FLT collision, you were visited by a labour 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, in order to make comparisons.

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Task 1: Justifying health and safety improvements

1. What financial arguments could you use to justify your proposed recommendations
to segregate FLTs and the workers? (10)

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information
from the scenario.

Task 2: Checking management system effectiveness

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 behaviour
that you have observed, unsafe behaviour associated with historic incidents and
unsafe behaviour relayed to you from other workers. Also, the report contains
voluntary feedback on safety given to you by workers and managers.

Based on the scenario only

(a) what unsafe behaviour would be included in the report? (6)

(b) what voluntary feedback would be included in the report? (4)

Task 3: Managing contractors

3. Site management have accepted your proposed health and safety improvement
solution to segregate FLTs and the workers. They have made the budget available. The
organisation intends to use external contractors for the work.

When selecting the external contractors, what would you consider when assessing
their competence? (10)

Task 4: Working within a health and safety management system

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 organisation of having
this formal safety management system? (10)

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Task 5: Influencing health and safety culture

5. To improve performance in the organisation, you know that you need to positively
influence health and safety culture. You feel the culture at the warehouse is currently
negative.

What are the negative indicators of safety culture at the warehouse? (10)

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information
from the scenario.

Task 6: Developing safe systems of work (SSOW)

6. Because of the recent incidents, you have decided to review the first-aid
arrangements in the warehouse.

What do you need to consider so that first-aid needs are realistic and proportionate
for the warehouse workers? (10)

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information
from the scenario. You do not need to include specific first-aid equipment.

Task 7: Investigating incidents

7. You have decided that the recent accident, when a worker’s leg was broken, needs to
be investigated.

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. (10)

Note: You should reference the likelihood and consequence criteria described in
HSG245. You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

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 8. You try to determine some of the human factor causes of the recent accident, when a
worker’s leg was broken, by looking at the available investigation evidence.

What individual human factors could have negatively influenced the behaviour of the
young FLT driver? (10)

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information
from the scenario.

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? (10)

Task 8: Reviewing performance

10. You invite the overall Store and Warehouse Manager to a health and safety
management review.

(a) Based on evidence from the scenario only, comment on how the organisation is
performing in the following areas

Answer with two related points for each area.

(i) active and reactive monitoring. (2)

(ii) the adequacy of current risk assessments. (2)
(iii) operational procedures and rules. (2)
(iv) compliance with legal requirements. (2)

(b) Based on evidence from the scenario only, what sources of benchmarking
information could be used? (2)

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