Unit HSA1: Health and safety at work

Declaration: By submitting this assessment (Parts 1 – 3) for marking I declare that it is entirely my own work.
I understand that falsely claiming that the work is my own is malpractice and can lead to NEBOSH imposing
severe penalties (see the NEBOSH Malpractice Policy for further information).

Important note: You must refer to the document ‘Unit HSA1: Health and safety at work – Guidance and
information for learners and Learning Partners’ while completing all parts of this assessment. Your
Learning Partner should provide you with a copy, but it can also be downloaded from the relevant
resources section for this qualification on the NEBOSH website.

PART 1 - information

Learner name
A. Learner
Learner number:
01234567
Learning Partner:
NEBOSH
Date of assessment:
12/10/2021
Organisation / nature of Small factory producing cardboard packaging. Main processes are
work activities: cutting, printing, and assembly.
Approximately 50 workers are employed and they work in shifts.
PART 2 – Management and Processes

How is health and safety managed in your workplace, and how could it be improved?
This part of the assessment applies knowledge from elements 1, 3 and 4 of the syllabus. You will need to
think about how things are done, see what policies are in place and also reflect on your own experience of
working.

Use the following checklist of good practice health and safety management to review how things work in
your organisation.

Good Practice Current practice in the How the organisation could improve
organisation
Leadership
Managers show that health Shift managers report on accidents
and safety is important during weekly ‘toolbox talks’
There is a HSE manager and any
accidents are reported to them.
Little involvement / visibility from
other leadership.
Communication
Health and safety Safety information is included in Make more information available to
information is effectively training especially for roles workers such as policies and risk
communicated working with machinery. assessments. Should be available for
Accidents are spoken about in workers to view at any time ie on a
toolbox talks. noticeboard.
Some safety signage but has not Safety information in toolbox talks
been updated for many years. could be expanded to talk about
current risks and controls, rather
than just when there is an accident.
Consultation/participation of workers
Workers are involved with HSE manager distributes Appoint H&S staff representatives to
health and safety issues information via shift managers consult on issues
where necessary
Workers are aware of their Basic H&S information included in Provide more information on this to
health and safety induction training workers, rather than current safety
responsibilities information which focusses on rules
and controls only.
Checking and monitoring performance
Data is collected on Process for reporting accidents to Ensure workers are aware /
accidents, dangerous HSE manager, via shift managers. encouraged to also report near
occurrences, ill health, and misses.
near misses Work with other management to
capture instances of ill-health.
Regular safety inspections Weekly inspections of factory
are carried out floor/machinery by H&S manager
Health and safety processes Processes are updated as required Implement audit schedule to
are audited following any issues identified regularly review processes and
proactively update them.
Information from Accident data is reviewed Schedule quarterly review of
monitoring is reviewed annually. inspection reports to identify
trends/issues and identify
opportunities for improvement.
Consider if other monitoring may be
useful.
There is a process for H&S manager responsible for Develop a process for investigations
investigating workplace accident investigation. No detailed that ensures root causes are
incidents (accidents and process in place. identified and action plans are
near misses) produced following an incident.
Risk assessment
There is a process in place General risk assessment has been Update process to ensure that all
for identifying risks carried out and is reviewed potential people at harm are
annually. considered eg contractors, delivery
drivers etc.
Ensure that a suitable review date is
set when the assessment is carried
out, based on the findings of the
assessment.
Relevant ‘specific’ risk None – manual handling and fire Carry out specific risk assessments
assessments have been risks are listed in the general risk for manual handling tasks and fire
carried out assessment safety
The organisation has a way Not clear – no prioritisation is Consider using a risk matrix to help
to decide which are the recorded prioritise risks.
most important risks to
address

Of the current practices you have identified, and improvements you have suggested, which fit into each
stage of the ‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ model?
Plan Develop structured investigation procedure

Do Carry out specific risk assessments; appoint H&S staff representatives

Check Weekly inspections; reporting of accidents

Act Review of accident statistics, review of risk assessments. Identifying

trends from inspection reports.
PART 3 – Issues and actions

What health and safety issues are present in your workplace today, how are they controlled, and can the
risk be reduced even more using additional controls?
This activity applies knowledge from elements 2 and 3 of the syllabus. You will need to look around your
workplace and speak to relevant workers.
Note – you might not be able to include something for every single type of hazard. You should include at
least ten different health and safety issues, that show at least 5 different hazard types.

Type (see guidance) Issue you found Controls already in Suggested additional
place controls
Access Steps leading from Painted markings on Install additional lighting
delivery area are poorly step edge. Add warning signage.
lit.
Housekeeping Deliveries unloaded in None Assign more workers to
walkway before being receive delivery and
moved to storage area. transport boxes
immediately.
Manual handling Delivered boxes Manual handling Provide trolleys to
(approx. 5kg) are training given at transport boxes.
carried to storage area. induction.
First Aid There are two trained First-aid training Review scheduling of work
first-aiders, but due to provided. patterns.
shift patterns Basic first-aid Train additional workers.
sometimes neither are equipment available on
on-site. site.
Hazardous chemicals Workers handling PPE provided for this Refresh training on
and substances printing chemicals task importance of wearing
without using PPE – PPE.
although suitable PPE is Ensure PPE is easily
available on site. accessible and fit tested.
Work at height Workers climbing onto None Develop safe working
printer to remove procedure for dealing with
blockage – no suitable blockages.
ladder/steps available. Ensure suitable equipment
is available.
Work equipment Workers climbing onto Machinery has guards Develop safe working
printer to remove in place procedure for dealing with
blockage without Machine guarding blockages.
shutting off machinery. included in weekly Refresh training on safe
inspections. working practice / hazards
of machinery and
equipment.
Noise Workers subject to Optional ear defenders Carry out monitoring to
noise from printers for available if requested. determine noise levels.
up to 10 hours per shift. Consider implementing
PPE requirement.
 Type (see guidance) Issue you found Controls already in Suggested additional
place controls
Manual handling Workers involved in Re-arrange workstations
hand-finishing to be on both sides of
cardboard repeatedly conveyor.
reaching/stooping to
reach materials.
Slips, trips and falls Offcuts of cardboard Floor is cleared every Provide bins at
(on same level) from hand-finished couple of hours during workstation.
process are thrown shift.
onto floor causing a
slipping hazard.

From the issues you have identified, select one that you think would be the most important issue for
improvement with your suggested additional controls.
What makes this a priority? Give moral, legal, and financial reasons.

Issue Reasons why

Workers climbing onto printer to The risk is high as this activity could result in a fall from height as
remove blockage well as potential injury from mechanical hazards of the machinery.
Injuries would likely be severe and would also probably incur a high
cost to the company, through shutdown, repair, medical costs, as
well as potential legal costs or fines. The organisation as employer
has a moral duty to protect their workers’ health.
NEBOSH HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK AWARD

Unit HSA1
Workplace health and safety review Assessor’s marking sheet

Date of assessment 12/10/2021

Learning Partner Learning Partner

000 NEBOSH
number name

Learner number 01234567 Learner name A. Learner

NEBOSH
Marks
Available marks moderated
awarded
marks

1 Information

All required information is provided 1 1

2 Management and processes

Current practice has been included 1 each max 12 12

Relevant opportunity for improvement against

1 each max 12 10
current practice
Current or suggested practices have been
1 each max 4 4
applied to the PDCA model

3 Issues and actions

Issue identified from a listed type 1 each max 10 10

Current control listed for identified hazard 1 each max 10 7

Suitable additional control suggested for

1 each max 10 10
identified hazard

Issue selected as priority, with reasoning 1 1

60 55
TOTAL

Outcome: PASS (45 or more marks) x REFER (less than 45 marks)

Assessor: N.E. Marker

Assessor signature: N. Marker