NEBOSH
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National General
Certificate
Safe System of Work
Exercise
Day 4
Health & Safety Solutions
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RRC TRAINING
27-37 St George’s Road • London SW19 4DS
Tel: +44 (0)20 8944 3100 • Fax: +44 (0)20 8944 7099
e-mail: [email protected] • web: www.rrc.co.uk
Safe System of Work
Syndicate Exercise 1
You work for a motor vehicle recovery service.
You have been charged with developing a safe system of work for the following job:
Changing the wheel on a customer’s car.
The customer’s car is on the hard shoulder of a motorway.
Carry out a quick risk assessment on the job.
From the risk assessment, develop a set of instructions for an RAC mechanic to
follow when carrying out this job.
Document your instructions in a user-friendly format.
Note that:
The company have been sued several times by their own “competent”
mechanics following some accidents which had very basic causes. For example,
one mechanic had his hand crushed when the customer’s jack collapsed. He
had his own trolley jack in the back of his van, but “could not be bothered to get
it”.
The company have also been served an improvement notice for failure to ensure
the safety of members of the public (i.e. their customers) following an accident
where a customer was struck by a company van reversing on the hard shoulder.
Safe System of Work
Syndicate Exercise 2
You work for the Police.
You have been charged with developing a safe system of work for the following job:
Carrying out a drugs raid on a house.
The house is used by suspected drugs dealers. They are known to be
violent. Guns are not expected.
Carry out a quick risk assessment on the job.
From the risk assessment, develop a set of instructions for a controlling officer to
follow when co-ordinating this job.
Document your instructions in a user-friendly format.
Note that:
Many police forces have been sued by officers who have been injured during this
type of operation. For example, one officer was stabbed in the chest during a
“low-risk” search. It was later discovered that a large file of information about
the suspects was available but had not been communicated to the controlling
officer. The file clearly indicated that the suspects were violent.
Several police forces have been issued with improvement notices by the
Enforcement Agency following injuries to officers. Several senior officers have
also been charged with offences for failing to develop safe systems of work for
their staff.
Safe System of Work
Syndicate Exercise 3
You work for a large Telephone Network Company.
You have been charged with developing a safe system of work for the following job:
Carrying out routine maintenance and testing on a phone line.
The phone line is positioned at the top of a telegraph pole.
Carry out a quick risk assessment on the job.
From the risk assessment, develop a set of instructions for an engineer to follow
when carrying out this job.
Document your instructions in a user-friendly format.
Note that:
The company has been sued on many occasions by their “competent” engineers,
usually following very simple accidents. For example, one engineer broke a leg
after he fell from the top of his ladder. He had a fall arrest harness on at the
time of the accident but had not bothered to clip himself on at the top of the
pole. When asked why not, he replied that he was under the impression that
use of the lanyard was not compulsory.
The company have also been in trouble with the enforcement agency over a
number of issues relating to this job. In particular safety of members of the
public has been a concern.
Safe System of Work
Syndicate Exercise 4
You work for Sylvi-Electrics. This company works under contract to the electrical
distribution companies. They provide a simple but essential service. They cut back
trees and hedges that are growing under or adjacent to overhead power lines.
You have been charged with developing a safe system of work for the following job:
Carrying out routine “lopping” on trees and hedges growing under
and adjacent to 11,000 volt overhead power lines (this type of power
line runs on uninsulated cables suspended from wooden “telegraph”
poles).
The power lines run in rural and semi-rural areas only. The majority
run over farm land.
Carry out a quick risk assessment on the job.
From the risk assessment, develop a set of instructions for a Sylvi-Electrics operator
to follow when carrying out this job.
Document your instructions in a user-friendly format.
Note that:
This company has never been sued by an employee following an accident.
However, the company was given notice by the enforcement agency18 months ago
for failure to train employees adequately in the use of personal protective
equipment. This particular notice followed a spot check carried out by an inspector
who saw one chain-saw operator without ear defenders.
