May - July 2014

Examiners’ ReportNEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Healthand Safety (GC2)

Examiners’ Report UNIT GC2: CONTROLLING WORKPLACE HAZARDS

MAY – JULY 2014

For: NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety CONTENTS Introduction 2 General comments 3 Candidate performance 4 Examination technique 4 Command words 6 Learning outcomes 7 Conclusion 8

2014 NEBOSH, Dominus Way, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1QW tel: 0116 263 4700 fax: 0116 282 4000 email: info@nebosh.org.uk website: www.nebosh.org.uk The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health is a registered charity, number 1010444

Introduction NEBOSH (The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) was formed in 1979 as an independent examining board and awarding body with charitable status. We offer a comprehensive range of globally-recognised, vocationally-related qualifications designed to meet the health, safety, environmental and risk management needs of all places of work in both the private and public sectors. Courses leading to NEBOSH qualifications attract around 50,000 candidates annually and are offered by over 600 course providers, with examinations taken in over 110 countries around the world. Our qualifications are recognised by the relevant professional membership bodies including the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM). NEBOSH is an awarding body that applies best practice setting, assessment and marking and applies to Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) regulatory requirements. This report provides guidance for candidates which it is hoped will be useful to candidates and tutors in preparation for future examinations. It is intended to be constructive and informative and to promote better understanding of the syllabus content and the application of assessment criteria. © NEBOSH 2014 Any enquiries about this report publication should be addressed to: NEBOSH Dominus Way Meridian Business Park Leicester LE19 1QW tel: 0116 263 4700 fax: 0116 282 4000 email: info@nebosh.org.uk

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General comments Many candidates are well prepared for this unit assessment and provide comprehensive and relevant answers in response to the demands of the question paper. This includes the ability to demonstrate understanding of knowledge by applying it to workplace situations. There are other candidates, however, who appear to be unprepared for the unit assessment and who show both a lack of knowledge of the syllabus content and a lack of understanding of how key concepts should be applied to workplace situations. This report has been prepared to provide feedback on standard date and on-demand GC2 examinations sat between May to July 2014. Feedback is presented in these key areas; examination technique, command words and learning outcomes and is designed to assist candidates and course providers to prepare for future assessments in this unit. Candidates and course providers will also benefit from use of the ‘Guide to the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety’ and ‘Guide to the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety’, which are available via the NEBOSH website. In particular, the guides set out in detail the syllabus content for GC2 and tutor reference documents for each Element. Additional guidance on command words is provided in ‘Guidance on command words used in learning outcomes and question papers’, which is also available via the NEBOSH website. Candidates and course providers should also make reference to the GC2 ‘Example question paper and Examiners’ feedback on expected answers’, which provides example questions and details Examiners’ expectations and typical areas of underperformance.

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Candidate performance This report covers all examinations, both standard and on-demand examination sittings during May to July 2014. Examination technique The following examination techniques were identified as the main areas of improvement for candidates: Candidates misread/misinterpreted the question Questions set for the NEBOSH National and International General Certificate relate directly to the learning outcomes contained within the syllabus guides. The syllabus guide requires that candidates will be sufficiently prepared to provide the relevant depth of answer (see command words below) across a broad range of subject areas. For example, a candidate could be asked about the causes of stress or could be asked about the effects of stress, a question could require a response relating to the principles of fire initiation or a question could require a response relating to the spread of fire. Therefore a candidate should focus not only on the general subject area (eg stress, fire), but also the specific aspect of that subject to which the question relates. Over three quarters of Examiners reported that many candidates begin an answer satisfactorily and perhaps gain one or two marks but then lose sight of the question. Although further points included in the answer do relate to the general subject area, these points are not focused on the specific element and marks cannot be awarded. This could be due to rote-learning (see below) but could equally be due to a failure to read the question correctly resulting in sometimes lengthy answers relating to the subject, but not answering the question. Candidates are advised to allow sufficient time to read the question more than once in order to determine the key requirements. Underlining or highlighting key words can assist in keeping focused and simple mind maps or answer plans can also be useful. Maps and plans should be kept simple so as not to use up too much examination time. Candidates did not respond effectively to the command word Many candidates continue to have problems with providing the appropriate detail in their answer in order to give the required depth of information as indicated by the command word in the question. Again, it is the learning outcomes in the syllabus guide that dictate the depth of answer that a candidate would be expected to provide. Although candidates do sometimes provide too much information for a command word such as ‘identify’, this would not lose marks, but would waste valuable time. Predominately, candidates fail to provide sufficient depth of detail required by command words such as ‘outline’ or ‘explain’ and often restrict their answer to little more than bullet points that cannot be awarded all of the marks allocated to the question. Course providers should ensure that their learning materials complement the command words in the syllabus guide and should ensure that sufficient time is given to examination technique during a course of study.

Unit GC2 Controlling workplace hazards

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Candidates provided rote-learned responses that did not fit the question Rote-learning involves accurately memorising subject matter by repetition. This will enable candidates to accurately re-create passages of text or stock answers to previously set questions. This method of learning has major deficiencies in that candidates fail to understand what they have learned and cannot therefore apply their knowledge in a reasoned manner to an examination question. Rather, candidates will have to make do with the rote-learned information that is the nearest match to the question. Although one or two marks may be gained by this approach, the nearest match will rarely be sufficient to gain the marks available. Course providers are obliged to provide suitable course and presentation materials and these, together with case studies, practical examples, audio visual media and group exercises not only create an enjoyable and fulfilling learning environment, but also prepare candidates for the NEBOSH National and International General Certificate examinations. Candidates unnecessarily wrote the question down There are around 9 minutes available to answer an 8-mark question in Section 2 of a NEBOSH National and International General Certificate examination paper. This time will be required for reading the question properly, developing an answer plan or approach, either mentally or in note form and then committing the answer to paper. The efficient use of this time is essential in order to ensure that all questions can be answered within the 2 hours available. Many candidates feel it necessary to write out the question, in full, prior to providing their answer and although this practice will not lose marks it will lose valuable time. A significant number of candidates do not answer all of the questions in the time permitted and fail to complete the paper, some of whom obviously run out of time. Course providers should remind candidates that it is not necessary to include the question with their answer.

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Command words The following command words are listed in the order identified as being the most challenging for candidates: Outline Examiners have reported, once again, that the command word ‘outline’ was found challenging by many candidates. Sufficient detail was not given that would indicate the principal features or parts of the subject to which the question related. Exhaustive descriptions are not required. However, excessive information given for an ‘outline’ question is rare. Primarily candidates fail to give sufficient information and limit answers to a bulleted list or a very brief summary. It would help candidates to consider the use of the command word in everyday language and treat accordingly. If it was asked to ‘outline’ what arrived in the post today, an answer such as “three letters, a sales leaflet and two parcels” would not be sufficient. An answer would be expected to include; who the letters were from, what was the subject, what was being advertised on the leaflet and what was in the contents of the parcels. Describe The command word ‘describe’ requires that candidates provide details of the distinctive features of the particular subject. ‘Describe’ does not mean that candidates have to provide extensive information on that subject. However, many candidates use ‘describe’ as an opportunity to fill a page with as much information relating to the given topic, but give little attention to the distinctive features as required. Alternatively, candidates do not distinguish between ‘outline’ and ‘describe’ and provide an answer with a number of unconnected points generally related to the subject. If a person was asked to describe his/her house or describe his/her car, he/she would have little difficulty in doing so and would not give general unconnected information about houses or cars. Candidates should apply this rationale when providing examination answers. Identify When providing an answer to a question qualified by the command word ‘identify’, the name or title of an item is required. Such as, ‘identify the routes of entry of a substance’, or ‘identify the components of an independent tied scaffold’. In most cases one or two words will be sufficient and further detail will not be required to gain the marks. Candidates should feel confident that the quantity of words does not equal quantity of marks where the command word is limited to ‘identify’. Explain When a question asks to explain a point, the candidate is required to provide an understanding or make clear an idea or relationship. For example, ‘explain the principles of a hold-to-run device with regard to machinery safety’. Many candidates approach an ‘explain’ question the same as an ‘outline’ and provide a number of individual points rather than providing an explanation as to how something operates or why something occurs. Give ‘Give’ is usually used in a question together with a further requirement, such as ‘give the meaning of’ or ‘give an example in each case’. Candidates tend to answer such questions satisfactorily, especially where a question might ask to ‘identify’ something and then ‘give’ an example. The candidate who can answer the first part, invariably has little difficulty in giving the example. For additional guidance, please see NEBOSH’s ‘Guidance on command words’ document, which is available on our website: www.nebosh.org.uk/students/default.asp?cref=1345&ct=2

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Learning outcomes Candidates performed well in these areas of the syllabus: 1.5 Explain the hazards and control measures for safe working at height Questions relating to work at height were, in general, answered reasonably well by candidates. This was particularly true for questions that referred to common types of access equipment, such as tower scaffolds and questions that related to falling objects. Candidates were able to include relevant controls in order to prevent falls of persons and minimise risk of falling objects together with precautions for public protection. Work at height activities are carried out in many workplaces and working at height is visible outside of workplaces. As such, many candidates would certainly have practical experience of working at height, which together with effective tuition and course materials were able to provide good examination answers and gained the marks available. 3.2 Explain the hazards and control measures which should be considered when assessing

risks from manual handling activities Manual handling is the single biggest cause of injury across all workplaces. As such, manual handling receives significant attention within the working environment and many candidates would have practical experience of manual handling in their own workplace. This experience, together with effective tuition in the recognised assessment methodology of task, individual, load, environment (TILE), has clearly prepared candidates for this element of the NEBOSH National and International General Certificate examination, as the majority of candidates provided reasonable answers for questions relating to manual handling assessments. The following learning outcomes have been identified as being the most challenging area of the syllabus for candidates in this period: 7.5 Outline the hazards, risks and controls associated with specific agents The specific agents element of the syllabus includes a number of substances that can affect the health of persons at work. Candidates are not expected to be experts in the risks and controls of agents such as asbestos, silica and blood borne agents. However, candidates would be expected to recognise the source, know the main effects, and appreciate key control measures that are appropriate in each case. It is disappointing when a candidate provides a complete answer for a question relating to a specific agent when it is clear that they are referring to the wrong agent. Legionella is often confused with leptospira and any knowledge of blood borne viruses is exceptionally rare. Examiners report that they suspect that, due to the widespread lack of knowledge in this area of the syllabus across all candidates, course providers may not be covering the course materials adequately. 5.2 Outline the control measures that should be taken when working with electrical systems

or using electrical equipment in all workplace conditions Candidates continue to have difficulty gaining reasonable marks on questions relating to electricity. As with specific agents, the consistent low marks across all candidates seem to indicate that the quality of teaching in this subject matter may be below standard. Again, although expert knowledge is not required, at this level, candidates should be able to demonstrate awareness of the principles of earthing, how an RCD gives increased protection and the application of double insulation. Stock answers of ‘battery tools’ and ‘PAT testing’ are regularly given for any electrical question, regardless of the specific issue. Course providers must ensure that their trainers have the competence themselves in order to teach this area of the syllabus satisfactorily. Due to the widespread failings of candidates on electrical safety, course providers must take the lead in improving standards in order that candidates have a fair chance of gaining the marks available.

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4.2 Explain the hazards and controls for hand-held tools Candidates should be able to demonstrate an awareness of the hazards of hand-held tools that may arise from their unsuitability or defective condition, together with relevant control measures. Hand-held tools can be powered or non-powered and therefore there is a wide range of hazards that could be included in answers. However, candidates do not seem to have an awareness of a broad range of tools and therefore are not able to provide a range of hazards and subsequent necessary controls. Course providers should provide examples of, or images of, damaged or hazardous tools in order that candidates who may not be from a workshop background can be familiarised with common tools. Conclusion The feedback from Examiners highlighted that candidates taking the GC2 examinations in May to July 2014 needed most improvement in the areas of specific agents that can cause occupational health effects, control measures for electrical systems or equipment, and hazards and controls for hand-held tools. With regard to examination technique, a number of candidates sitting this examination appeared to either misread the question or misinterpreted the question. Some candidates did not respond to the command word, while others provided rote-learned responses that did not fit the question.

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The National ExaminationBoard in OccupationalSafety and Health

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telephone +44 (0)116 2634700fax +44 (0)116 2824000email info@nebosh.org.ukwww.nebosh.org.uk