NEBOSH

KNOW - WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY

PRINCIPLES (INTERNATIONAL)

UNIT ID1:
For: NEBOSH International Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety
Management Professionals

Guidance to learners

The assessment is split into four parts.

All the tasks and activities in all parts of the assessment are mandatory.

• Part 1 contains questions based on a fictitious, but realistic scenario.

• Part 2 contains tasks that you will need to complete in a suitable workplace.
• Part 3 contains reflective tasks.
• Part 4 is a short research project.

You will have 6 weeks (30 working days) to complete all four parts of the assessment.
Please refer to your registration confirmation email for the upload deadline.
Please note that NEBOSH will be unable to accept your assessment once the deadline has passed.
You must use the available answer template.

This assessment is not invigilated, and you are free to use any learning resources to which you have
access, eg your course notes, or the HSE website, etc.

By submitting this completed assessment for marking, you are declaring it is entirely your own work.
Knowingly claiming work to be your own when it is someone else’s work is malpractice, which carries
severe penalties. This means that you must not collaborate with or copy work from others. Neither
should you ‘cut and paste’ blocks of text from the Internet or other sources.

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Part 1: Scenario-based questions
The examination begins with a realistic scenario to set the scene. You will then need to complete a
series of tasks based on this scenario. Each task will consist of one or more questions. Your
responses to most of these tasks should wholly, or partly, draw on relevant information from the
scenario. The task will clearly state the extent to which this is required.
The marks available are shown in brackets to the right of each question, or part of each question.
This will help guide you to the amount of information required in your response. In general, one mark
is given for each correct technical point that is clearly demonstrated. Avoid writing too little as this
will make it difficult for the Examiner to award marks. Single word answers or lists are unlikely to
gain marks as this would not normally be enough to show understanding or a connection with the
scenario.

Please attempt ALL tasks.

SCENARIO

An organisation employing 175 workers manufactures metal storage cupboards that are supplied
directly to trade only (no direct sales to end consumers). The organisation is based in a country that
has a climate similar to the United Kingdom (UK). The organisation has membership of several trade
bodies of which it is very proud. Normal working hours are 08.00 – 16.00, five days a week. The
organisation’s turnover for the previous financial year was $16 million.

Although the organisation has been in existence since the 1960s, it has recently faced intense
competition from overseas suppliers, able to produce similar units at lower prices. As a result, cheaper
components have been sourced from an alternative supplier, who has also faced challenges in their
supply chain. Profit margins are extremely tight (roughly 5%) and any additional costs are fiercely
resisted by the Production Director and the Board of Directors. The organisation’s income has also
been adversely affected by a recent pandemic. The Board are worried that their bonus payments will
be affected by this so have recently imposed a non-essential spending embargo.

The organisation operates from two buildings that are located directly opposite each other, separated
by a service road, on a busy industrial estate. You are the Site Manager for both buildings and have
been in the post for 6 months. The first building is a factory used for the manufacture of the cabinets,
the second serves as a combined warehouse and office. The cabinets are temporarily stored in the
warehouse awaiting packaging and despatch when orders are received. There is a two-storey office
building attached to the rear of the warehouse where all business administration is carried out. The
Managing Director’s office and the boardroom are also housed in the office building. Both rooms have
expensive fixtures and fittings.

Both buildings are approximately 50 years old. The buildings are square shaped, approximately 40
metres x 40 metres (approximately 130 feet) and are 13 metres high (approximately 42 feet). Both
buildings have sloping roofs made from corrugated steel sheets. On each roof there are 12 rooflights
(translucent glass panels designed to let daylight into the building). The roofs on both buildings have
needed to be replaced for at least 5 years. The organisation’s Board of Directors are very reluctant to
spend money on improving the buildings, or on general health and safety improvements (there have
been lots of complaints from workers relating to health and safety issues that have not been
investigated, as the Board will not allocate resources). There is no trade union representative or
representative of employee safety, so workers raise issues through their supervisor or come to you
directly.

As Site Manager your responsibilities include facilities management. In addition, the Board of Directors
have appointed you to manage health and safety across both buildings, so that they can just
concentrate on running the business and not be distracted by health and safety issues. You have no
formal health and safety qualifications. However, you have been doing similar roles for the past 10
years so have had experience of managing health and safety in similar organisations.
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You have recently been carrying out a review of health and safety issues and have noted that in the
last 6 months there have been 4 compensation claims from workers, for injuries sustained while at
work. The organisation’s insurance company has expressed concerns over the number of claims. The
insurance company have recently supplied you with figures showing that the accidents over the last
year have cost the organisation more than $100 000. You have also noticed that the Board had refused
resource requests from your predecessor for controls that would have generally improved health and
safety, or would have made specific jobs safer. You view minutes from Board meetings that confirm
that health and safety performance is not reviewed.

You also note that in many areas of the business there are no safe systems of work, and, where they
do exist, they are woefully out-of-date, sometimes referring to machinery or equipment that the
organisation no longer owns or operates. You also review the generic risk assessment that was last
reviewed 4 years ago. The risk assessment also refers to machinery, equipment and materials that
are no longer present or used. You look through the training records and note that there does not
appear to have been any relevant worker training carried out; which makes you think that you should
really check on the specific risk assessments to make sure they are still relevant; you can find no trace
of these. You have noticed that there does not appear to be a permit-to-work system in place for
welding activities (hot work) and other hazardous activities that take place on site.

Several workers report to you that the roofs now have major leaks, and two of the leaks are significant
(daylight can be seen through gaps in the roof from inside the buildings). They also report that the
rainwater is dripping onto machinery and electrical equipment. You therefore submit a report to the
Board asking for money to be made available to carry out the repairs. The Board discuss the report
and agree that money will have to be spent as the rainwater ingress could damage machinery and
slow down production. They ask you to “get some quotes so that we can see what this will cost us”.

You want to arrange for three different specialist contractors to visit the site to provide a quotation for
these works. You look at your predecessor’s files to see whether there is a list of approved contractors.
When you cannot find anything, you speak to some of the workers to find out if they know how
contractors are selected. The general response is that “The Board are so economical with money it’s
usually us who do the work!”. While you are talking to them, the workers take this opportunity to also
complain to you about the working conditions. You ask further questions to learn more. They tell you
that the Board and MD are rarely, if ever, seen in the factory or warehouse; the only time they are seen
is when things go wrong. The workers tell you that they have repeatedly asked the Board to form a
health and safety committee and to allow their trade union to represent workers in health and safety
matters. The Board have always refused these requests. The workers even asked that, instead of
union representatives, representatives of employee safety could be appointed from the workforce and,
again, the Board refused. The Board’s attitude was “It’s just an opportunity for one of you lot to shirk
doing your day job!”.

Following the discussion with the workers, you turn back to the task of selecting contractors for the roof
repairs. In the absence of any list of pre-selected contractors, you decide to approach three that you
have used before for this kind of work when working for other organisations. You contact each of them
and ask them for a quotation for the work, along with the following documentation:

• health and safety policy;

• risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) for the required work;
• evidence of competence for the roofers who will do the work;
• details on any liability insurances in place;
• details of any professional or trade body that the organisation subscribes to.

All three companies first visit your site to assess what needs to be done. Roof Works also ask to see
your organisation’s health and safety policy and for confirmation of the arrangements that will be put
into place to help ensure that the job can be done safely. You provide this information to them. Each
of the companies then provide the documentation you requested along with their quote. The quotes
received are:

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 Contracting Cost Details
company
Roof Works $26 075 Cost of materials and labour – organisation to
provide access equipment.
We Repair Roofs $34 830 Cost of materials, labour and access equipment.
Roofs Are Us $24 312 Cost of materials, labour and access equipment.

You report back to the Board and recommend using Roof Works; you comment that they are not the
cheapest, but their RAMS gave you the most confidence that the work can be done safely. The MD
considers all three quotes and tells you that “the quotes are extortionate” and refuses your request to
appoint any of the companies. The MD considers that this work could easily be carried out by the
factory workers as they are “good at making things”. The MD also says you should “draw some funds
from petty cash to give a $150 bonus to each of the workers who do the job – there’s no need to
officially record this payment, after all we don’t want them to have to pay tax on this”. You can see that
some members of the Board seem to be uncomfortable with the MD’s recommendations, but they
seem reluctant to say anything. You argue that this is specialist work and that, to your knowledge,
there are no trained roof workers in the organisation’s employment. The MD tells you “Just get the job
done and to quit complaining”. You continue the argument by reminding the Board of their obligations
to provide a safe place of work under local legislation. As this legislation is still fairly new, you remind
the MD and Board what the local legislative requirements are. The MD shouts at you “Well, I don’t
recognise this legislation, we’ve survived for 60 years without it so why do we need it now! I will not
be dictated to by a bunch of bureaucrats”. You reluctantly accept this decision and say that you will do
a risk assessment before the work commences; the MD tells you “Don’t waste your time and just get
on with it”.

You thought this would probably happen; the Board had, on an earlier occasion, refused funds to
appoint a contractor to replace some roof tiles, dislodged due to storm damage to the office block roof.
In this earlier case the Board also told you to get one of the workers to do the job rather than appoint
a specialist contractor. During this work, one of the workers had nearly fallen from the ladder while
stretching to push a dislodged tile back into place.

It is now late autumn and you want to get the work done as soon as possible before the winter starts
and the weather gets too severe. You have no choice but to have existing workers complete these
repairs. You think that two workers per building should be able to get the work done within a few days.
You have no idea who to select so you email the entire workforce to ask for volunteers; you include
details of the $150 bonus in your email. The department heads tell you that they will not be happy to
release their workers during the day, as they are very busy, so the work will have to be done outside
of normal working hours.

After a lot of chasing, you eventually get your four volunteers. They are:

• an apprentice machine fitter (16 years old);

• an apprentice accounts clerk (16 years old);
• a machine operator (32 years old);
• a packer (46 years old).

The two apprentices have only recently joined the organisation. It is their first job after leaving full-time
education at different schools. Both apprentices have only ever received training that relates directly
to their normal job, and that does not involve anything remotely similar to this roof work.

The apprentice machine fitter is relatively inexperienced but very confident; they have a really good
work ethic and are keen to impress and advance their career.

The apprentice accounts clerk is quiet, reserved, and compliant but wants to make friends with as
many people as possible as they have only been working for the organisation for two weeks. They
have formed a firm friendship with the apprentice machine fitter during this time. The apprentice
accounts clerk is easily swayed by the opinion of others. They do not feel they have a lot to do during
the day as they are still learning and are considering whether they have made the right career choice.
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They are beginning to think that office work is not for them, especially as they see their friend doing
some really stimulating work. Therefore, they jump at the opportunity to work alongside their friend.

The machine operator is very skilled and knowledgeable. They are a good worker, always willing to
go the extra mile for the organisation to keep production going. They are saving for a holiday so the
extra cash will come in handy.

The packer has worked for the organisation since leaving school and has done nearly every job in the
business. They are confident and happy to do anything when required. They have a pre-existing
medical condition, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), from previously working as a machine operator.
They are frequently seen drinking alcohol in the local bar at lunchtime and straight after work.

Both the machine operator and packer have received basic training on ladder use.

Before the work begins you research what materials, access, and safety equipment will be required.
Using the documentation submitted by the preferred contractor, you decide that scaffolding, along with
edge protection and safety harnesses, is the best way to proceed. You return to the Board to seek
authorisation for the cost of hiring the scaffolding and other equipment. The MD laughs at you and
tells you “There’s no need to waste that sort of money – just give them a ladder and tell them to get on
with it”. The Board authorise a budget $1 500 to cover the materials and the purchase of two extendable
ladders that can reach the building roofs. The Board does not mind spending money on ladders that
can be re-used to cheaply do similar jobs in the future. You purchase the required materials and
equipment and communicate with the workers that the work will commence at 16.00 the following day.

The following day it rains heavily for much of the day. As the work starts, the daylight begins to fade
(sunset is due around 16.30 at this time of year). You allocate the two apprentices to work together on
the warehouse roof and the other two, older workers to repair the factory roof. The workers carry the
materials onto the roofs and begin the work. The apprentice machine fitter shouts down to you that
they are having trouble seeing. You switch on the lights inside both buildings so that it shines through
the rooflights; this provides at least some localised lighting on the roofs. You also go to the stores
department and collect head-mounted torches for each of the workers to use. It is very cold so you
shout to the workers that you are going to make them some hot drinks and will let them know when
they are ready for them. You go into the office to make the drinks and return around 15 minutes later
to see the machine operator and the packer running towards you from the factory building.

You speak to the two workers running towards you and they hurriedly explain that they saw one of the
apprentices on the warehouse roof fall through a rooflight. You all run inside the warehouse and see
the apprentice accounts clerk lying on the concrete floor with shattered glass around them. You run
over to the casualty and can see that they are still breathing but are unconscious. You immediately
call for an ambulance. The ambulance arrives and takes the casualty to hospital.

You immediately inform the MD about the accident by telephone. You tell them that the accident must
be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and that a thorough investigation should be
carried out. The MD orders you not to report the accident, as, in their words “I don’t want anyone else
poking around in our business, the rest of the Board will agree to this decision”. The MD also tells you
that they will conduct their own investigation in the next few days to determine root causes, although
they add that it was obviously the worker’s fault as they “were not looking where they were going!”.
They ask you to gather some basic facts about the accident.

Immediately after this, you interview the machine operator who witnessed the accident, and record
what they can remember of the event. They remember seeing the apprentice accounts clerk tripping
over the ledge and falling through. Later that same evening you pass this record on to the MD. You
tell them that the other potential witnesses had already gone home as they were extremely traumatised,
and that you plan to interview them first thing in the morning. The MD tells you not to bother because
they have already suffered enough and will probably still be in a state of shock. They add that the
interview record from the machine operator alone should be sufficient to establish the facts.

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The next day you discover that the apprentice accounts clerk has died from their injuries. On hearing
the news of the death, the Board of Directors are a little shocked. They hurriedly arrange to meet at
an undisclosed off-site location to decide what to do. They all agree that it would be wise to start their
investigation to try to work out root causes of the accident and to ‘learn lessons’. The MD decides to
use a ‘5 Whys’ analysis that they have previously used in solving business problems. The MD explains
to the rest of the Board members that this is a relatively quick method for determining bad practices;
starting with the accident outcome, asking ‘Why?’ up to 5 times is usually enough to establish root
causes. The MD thinks it will be a quick way to demonstrate the obvious human error and bad practice
that caused this regrettable accident. This would remove any suggestion of possible senior
management failings and absolve them of any blame or liability.

That same day, while the MD and the rest of the Board are in the meeting off site, the Police and two
labour Inspectors turn up on site (one of the dead apprentice’s relatives has reported their death to the
Police). They ask to speak to the MD who is not available. In their absence, you speak to the Police
and labour Inspectors and co-operate with their requests. After they have left, you decide to check
through available records. You cannot find any evidence of previous enforcement notices or
prosecutions/convictions.

Later that night the MD returns to the office and destroys all evidence of emails and Board minutes
about the roof work. You only become aware of this deception when the MD’s personal assistant (PA)
speaks to you in confidence. The PA tells you that they have not told anyone else yet. As a matter of
concern for justice, they are considering disclosing this to the Police and HSE but are worried about
reprisals if the MD finds out who told them.

The investigation takes two weeks to complete. Following the investigation, the labour inspectors
decide to prosecute the organisation. Following the court case there is a lot of publicity as the case is
discussed in both the local press and on social media.

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Task 1: Obligations from ILO Conventions and Recommendations and self-regulation

1 The new health and safety legislation that has recently been enacted places
obligations on the undertaking; this legislation is based on the International
Labour Organization’s Occupational Safety and Health Convention (C155) and
Recommendation (R164).

(a) Comment on the obligations likely to be placed on the organisation by the

new local legislation, and how well the organisation is meeting these
obligations. (25)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

(b) Following the death of the worker, the Board recognises that they need to
do more to protect the health and safety of their workers. They invite you
to a meeting to discuss what the organisation could do to self-regulate
health and safety.

Prepare a briefing note that you could discuss with the Board on

(i) the benefits to the organisation of self-regulation. (5)

(ii) what the organisation needs to change or put into place to make
self-regulation successful. (20)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 2: Selection of contractors

2 (a) Comment on the positive aspects of your approach to selecting

contractors for the roofing project. (10)

(b) How could the organisation build upon this approach? (5)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 3: External influences on health and safety

3 Based on the scenario, comment on how a range of relevant external bodies

have affected health and safety in this organisation. (10)

Task 4: Application of root cause analysis tools

4 Comment on the Board’s approach to investigating the causes of the fatality. (20)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

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Task 5: Risk perception

5 Based on the scenario only, what may have affected how the volunteers
perceived the hazards of the roof work? (20)

Task 6: Financial justification to aid decision making

6 (a) What financial arguments could you use to convince the Board to invest
in health and safety? (20)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

(b) What revenue would the organisation need to maintain profit and cover
losses?
Use calculations to support your answer. (5)

Task 7: Corporate social responsibility

7 The organisation has received a lot of negative press following the court case.
You think that introducing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme
could benefit the organisation.

How would the organisation benefit from the introduction of a CSR

programme? (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

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Part 2: Workplace-based activities
The following activities must be carried out on your chosen workplace. Typically this is the workplace
in which you normally work. However, if your workplace is not suitable (for example it does not
provide sufficient scope), you can choose any suitable workplace, provided you can access the
information you need to complete the activities in this part.

Activity 1: Description of your chosen organisation

This section is very important. It describes the context of your organisation. The answers
you give to the remaining activities in Part 2 must be consistent with the information you
provide here. This information ‘paints a picture’ that helps the Examiner award you marks for
relevance and suitability in those later activities. For example, if you work in the service sector, such
as banking or insurance, it would be unusual to later describe a situation where welding contractors
are repairing a chemical storage tank in your own organisation; but that would not be unusual in a
chemical factory.

1 Provide a detailed description of your organisation. Representative examples

should be included where relevant.

As a minimum, your description must include the following

- Industrial sector, eg agriculture, service industry, manufacturing, etc
- Physical features of the site (if your chosen organisation has multiple
sites, describe only the site that you are basing your assessment on)
- location
- approximate site area
- number and types (eg offices, warehouse, etc) of buildings
- Main activities carried out at the site
- Worker profile and work organisation at the site
- the main roles and responsibilities within the organisation with
examples
- number of workers by employment status with examples, eg
contract, full-time, etc
- number and types of vulnerable groups
- the typical work shift pattern(s) (10)
Note: You are free to include any other information that you think is relevant,
but no additional marks are available. You are therefore advised to include as
much relevant detail as you can under the above categories.
If the location or activity of your business is sensitive (for whatever reason) you
are permitted to create fictitious (but nonetheless representative) details. For
example, the location may be changed if this would otherwise reveal sensitive
detail.

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Activity 2: Monitoring and measuring
2 (a) Comment on how your chosen organisation (outlined in Activity 1)
currently monitors, measures and evaluates health and safety
performance. (30)

You should aim to give at least THREE different measures. You must
consider
• What is being monitored and measured
• Reason(s) for monitoring and measuring (including legal and other
compliance obligations)
• Method(s) used for monitoring and measuring
• Criteria used for evaluation, eg evaluation against targets set, legal
standards, etc
• Frequency of monitoring, measuring and evaluation
• How, when, and to whom the evaluation results are communicated.

(b) Produce an action plan for FOUR realistic health and safety monitoring
and measuring improvements for your chosen organisation. (20)
Note: You must use the Activity 2(b) format table provided in the answer
sheet to record your answers.

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Activity 3: Consultation

3 The British guidance document Involving your workforce in health and safety
(HSG263) sets out four stages for successful worker consultation
- get started: prepare (stage 1)
- get organised: plan (stage 2)
- get it done: consult and involve (stage 3)
- get it right: keep improving (stage 4).

(a) Evaluate your chosen organisation against the compliance and practical
advice in stage 3 to identify strengths and weaknesses in your chosen
organisation’s consultation process. (25)
Note: You must support your answers with relevant examples from your
chosen organisation.

(b) Based on your evaluation from 3(a), produce an action plan for improving
the consultation process in your chosen organisation. Your plan must
include a minimum of three realistic improvements. (15)
Note: You must use the Activity 3(b) format table provided in the answer
sheet to record your answers.

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Activity 4: Safety culture maturity model

4 The Health and Safety Executive’s safety culture maturity model (SCMM) is
described in Offshore Technology Report 2000/049. The SCMM is a tool that
puts the focus on improving behaviour and culture. As a result, it should only
be adopted by organisations that at least have the safety basics in place.

In practice this means that as a minimum the following specific criteria should
be met
• the organisation has an adequate safety management system
• technical failures are not causing the majority of accidents
• the organisation is compliant with health and safety law
• safety is not driven by the avoidance of prosecution but by the desire to
prevent accidents.

(a) Using examples from your chosen organisation, comment on whether the
organisation is ready to start working through the SCMM levels. (5)

(b) The SCMM is comprised of 5 Levels. Regardless of whether your

organisation meets the minimum specific criteria for adoption of the
model, evaluate your organisation against the criteria for each level. (25)
Note: You should use relevant examples from your organisation to
support your evaluation.

(c) Based on the evaluation carried out in 4(b), decide on, with reasoning,
which Level best fits your organisation currently. (5)

(d) Produce an action plan that will improve and/or sustain safety culture
maturity in your chosen organisation. You must identify at least 3
realistic actions. (15)
Note: You must use the Activity 4(d) format table provided in the answer
sheet to record your answers.

Note: If your evaluation determines a Level 5 result associated with the model,
actions are still generally needed to stop complacency. If you feel that your
organisation is currently at Level 5 of the model, your action plan must identify
areas where performance can be improved to stop complacency and enable
continual improvement to take place.

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Part 3: Reflection

Task 1: Personal contribution to health and safety management

1 (a) Evaluate, using relevant examples, your personal contribution to health

and safety in your chosen organisation.

Think about
- your role – what it should be and how effective you are (or are
allowed to be)
- challenges that you have faced in carrying out this role
- methods used to overcome these challenges
- lessons that you have learned at various stages. (30)
Note: If you are not currently involved in a specific health and safety job
role, you can either relate the experience to a previous job role or
comment on how you meet your duties under health and safety law.

(b) Health and safety management issues sometimes need to be

communicated to workers. Three of these methods are verbal, electronic
and printed.

Relate EACH of these methods to your personal experience* and for

EACH method comment on
- what the intention of the communication was
- the specific method of communication chosen and how this was
used
- how effective the communication was
- lessons learned following the communication.
Note: You must give relevant examples to support your answers. (30)
* This does not have to be a health and safety communication, but
examples must be drawn from your work experience.

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Task 2: Transferable leadership skills

The aim of this part of the assessment is for you to reflect on transferable leadership and
professional skills that you may already have and/or need to develop. These skills could have been
acquired either through your work life (whether this is in health and safety or some other work
activities) or your personal life.

For instance, you may want to draw examples where you have been chairing a meeting or been
required to make decisions under pressure. Alternatively, you may carry out voluntary work and want
to draw on this for your examples. The examples can be from any element of your working or
personal life.

2 (a) Compare your own leadership experience against the characteristics of a

transactional leader. You should aim to identify at least 8 characteristics. (20)
Use relevant examples to support your answer.
Note: You must use the activity 2(a) format table provided in the answer
sheet to record your answers.

(b) Produce an action plan to show how you will develop what you consider
to be the TWO most important transactional leader characteristics for
your own leadership style. (20)
Note: You must use the activity 2(b) format table provided in the answer
sheet to record your answers.

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Part 4: Research project

Task: Short research report on risk assessment

Task brief

Risk assessment is a decision-making tool to aid the effective management of health

and safety.

Prepare a brief report on what you believe are the THREE most common pitfalls in
carrying out risk assessments.

As a guide aim to make your report no more than 3 500 words; approximately 500
words of the 3 500 must be used for the executive summary.

The report must

- include a justification for your selection of EACH pitfall
- cite reliable evidence from a range of sources such as authoritative guidance,
expert opinions, and other evidence to support your justification
- include references for the evidence sources that you have consulted.

Your research report should be presented under the following format

- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Justification for selection of three pitfalls (including evidence of research and
referencing)
- Conclusion
- Other references, if applicable (references used in addition to those used for each
identified pitfall)
- Appendices (if relevant). (150)

MARK SCHEME

Marks will be awarded as follows

Criteria Marks
Presentation, focus and executive summary * 10
Introduction 10
Justification for selection of three pitfalls ** 120
Conclusion 10

** Each pitfall identified will be marked using the descriptors Ϯ for Marks
the following criteria
Pitfall 1 Pitfall 2 Pitfall 3
Outline of pitfall 5 5 5
Justification for choosing the pitfall 25 25 25
Evidence of research and use of appropriate referencing 10 10 10
[max 40] [max 40] [max 40]

Ϯ Marks will be allocated using the descriptors on the following pages.

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Ϯ Descriptors
Criteria Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Presentation, focus 7-10 4-6 0-3
and executive
summary [max 10]
Presentation and focus Presentation and Presentation and Presentation and
Coherent and logical focus focus focus
structure. The report has a clear, The report generally The report is unclear
logical structure has a clear, logical and unfocused. The
structure but lacks report is not logically
structure or focus in structured.
some areas.
Uses concise and clear Clear concise The language used is The language is
language to convey the language has been generally concise but unclear and does not
information. used to convey the is slightly ambiguous convey information in a
information. or unclear in some concise way.
areas.
Appropriate technical Technical language Technical language Technical language
language is used. has been used has generally been has not been used
appropriately. used appropriately. appropriately or no
technical language has
been used.
Presentational devices Appropriate Presentational devices Presentational devices
used where appropriate. presentational devices, used, eg tables and (eg tables, figures) are
eg tables and figures figures are mostly limited, missing or not
are used where appropriate for the relevant.
relevant. information being
conveyed.
Executive summary Executive summary Executive summary Executive summary
Coherent and logical A clear, logical format Format is generally Format is poor and
format giving clear giving clear good but does not flow information is unclear
information. information. in some areas and or missing.
some information
appears to be missing.
Outline of 3 pitfalls. 3 pitfalls outlined 2-3 pitfalls outlined, 1 or no pitfalls outlined.
clearly/briefly. but outline is unclear Where an outline is
in some areas. included it is unclear.
Outline of main findings / Brief but clear outline Outline of Findings/conclusions
conclusions. of findings / findings/conclusions are poor or are not
conclusions. that is unclear or included.
missing key
information in some
areas.
Approximately 500 words Approximately 500 Approximately 500 More or less than 500
(one sheet of A4) used. words used. words used. words have been used
(+-10%).
Introduction [max 10] 7-10 4-6 0-3
Clear and concise aims The aims and The aims and The aims and
and objective of report. objectives are clearly objectives are given objectives have either
stated and relate to the but detail in some not been given or are
Relates to task brief. task brief. areas is brief or described poorly and/or
unclear; they generally do not relate to the task
relate to the task brief. brief.

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 Overview/introduction of The topic is clearly and
The topic is introduced The topic is either not
research topic. succinctly introduced.
but detail in some introduced or the detail
areas is brief or is very poor.
unclear.
Description of Clear description of A methodology has A methodology has
methodology used. the methodology used been outlined but this either not been given
to carry out the is brief or unclear in or is very poor/unclear.
research. some areas.
Justification for selection of three pitfalls
The following three descriptors must be used to mark EACH of the three pitfalls identified.
Outline of change 4-5 2-3 0-1
[max 5]
Clear description of Description of the Description of the Description of the pitfall
pitfall. pitfall is clear and is in pitfall is generally is very unclear or
line with the task brief. clear, but more detail missing. The pitfall
Pitfall identified is in line could have been identified is outside of
with the task brief. provided. The pitfall the task brief.
identified is in line with
the task brief.
Justification for 15-25 6-14 0-5
choosing the pitfall
[max 25]
Justification for selection Clear justification The justification given The justification given
of the pitfall. given for selection of for selection of the for selection of the
the pitfall. pitfall is generally pitfall is generally poor
good but further or has not been
arguments could have included.
been made or the
arguments made are
unclear in some areas.
Justification includes Learner has included Learner has included Reasoned arguments
reasoned arguments. clear reasoned reasoned arguments have not been included
arguments. in the justification but or are very poor and/or
these are brief or not always related to
unclear in some areas. the pitfall.
Arguments supported by Arguments are Arguments are There is no evidence to
research evidence supported by generally supported by support the arguments,
and/or relevant literature. evidence. evidence. or the evidence cited is
poor and/or not
relevant to the
argument.
Evidence of research 7-10 4-6 0-3
and use of appropriate
referencing [max 10]
Evidence of a range of Clear evidence that There is evidence that There is little or no
reliable evidence learner has learner has evidence to suggest
sources used in researched a range of researched a range of that the learner has
research. reference sources. reference sources. researched a range of
reference sources.
Research evidence The research evidence The research The research evidence
(literature/reference used is appropriate for evidence used is used does not link to
material) is appropriate and clearly linked to generally appropriate the identified pitfall.
and clearly linked to the the identified pitfall. for the identified pitfall
identified pitfall. but in some areas the
link is not clear.
ID1-0001-ENG-OBE-QP-V2 Sept21 © NEBOSH 2021 page 17 of 18
 Cited evidence is The reference sources The reference sources The reference sources
reliable, relevant and used are from reliable, used are generally that have been used
good quality. relevant and good from reliable, relevant are generally from
quality sources. and good quality unreliable sources
sources. and/or do not relate to
the identified pitfall.
Correctly and Referencing is based Referencing is Referencing is not
consistently formatted on a known / generally based on a based on a
references and citations, recognised style. known/recognised known/recognised style
eg Harvard style. style. or has not been
Reference technique is included.
excellent and Referencing technique
consistently formatted. is good and generally A poor or no attempt
consistently formatted. has been made to
reference the research.
Conclusion [max 10] 7-10 4-6 0-3
Conclusion references Good, clear conclusion The conclusion is The conclusion has
aims and objectives. that references the generally clear but either not been
aims and objectives of further clarity is included or is very
the report. required in some poor; there is little or no
areas; generally clear reference to the aims
referencing of the and objectives of the
aims and objectives. report.
The aims and objectives Aims and objectives Aims and objectives Aims and objectives
are the same as those given are the same as given are the same as given do not generally
given in the introduction. those given in the those given in the refer to those given in
introduction. introduction. the introduction or have
not been included.
Summary of main There is a concise There summary of the There is a poor or no
findings. summary of the main main findings is summary of the main
findings generally clear but findings.
further detail could
have been given in
some areas.
Credible conclusions that The conclusions made The conclusions made The conclusions made
relate to the task brief. are credible and relate are generally credible are generally not
to the task brief. and relate to the task credible and do not
brief. relate to the task brief.
New factors should not There is no There is some There is introduction of
be introduced at the introduction of any introduction of new new factors.
conclusion stage. new factors. factors.

End of examination

Now follow the instructions on submitting your answers.

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