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Practical Assessment Guidance
Practical Assessment Guidance
Worked Example
NEBOSH has included a worked example of Unit IG2 practical assessment in their Assessment Pack so that you can
see what you are aiming for. It is duplicated as a worked example here.
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Please do not copy any part of this worked example as this would constitute plagiarism that would be investigated
by NEBOSH and dealt with in line with their malpractice policies.
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Unit IG2
Final Reminders
Now that you have worked your way
through the course material, this
section contains some reminders
to help you with the practical
assessment. It offers advice on how
to approach the assessment and has
some useful hints and tips.
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Unit IG2: Final Reminders
Summary Guidance on the Practical Assessment
The practical assessment requires you to carry out a risk assessment in your workplace. There are several parts to
this assessment as shown in the diagram below:
You must record your assessment on the standard form supplied by NEBOSH in its online Assessment Pack.
You can download this form from their website. Forms can be completed by hand or electronically. However, we
recommend that you complete the form electronically.
Make sure that you include all of the information that is requested at the top of each form.
Part 1 – Description of the Organisation and Methodology Used
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Description of the Organisation
Ordinarily the workplace that you choose to describe would be the organisation that you work for. It needs to be
large and complex enough to present a good range of hazards.
You can provide a false name and/or location for your organisation if you like, to protect the identity of the
organisation and maintain confidentiality.
You must include the organisation’s name and location of the site you are conducting the risk assessment at (even
if they are fictitious). Include the number of workers and the shift patterns that are worked. Give a good general
description of what the organisation does and the site layout so that the examiner can picture the kind of workplace,
the products or services involved, and the sorts of activities that are likely to be carried out there. You can also
provide other relevant information if applicable. For example, you could identify who has overall responsibility for
health and safety in the organisation.
NEBOSH recommends that you write 150–200 words for this section.
Methodology Used
The second part requires you to explain how you carried out the risk assessment (your methodology).
You should include things such as the sources of information that you consulted, who you spoke to, and how the
hazards and controls were identified.
NEBOSH recommends that you write 200 words for this explanation.
Part 2 – Risk Assessment
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The form appears self-explanatory but it needs to be completed by carefully reading and following the NEBOSH
guidance.
Start by putting the organisation name, risk assessment date and risk assessment scope (where the assessment
was carried out) in the relevant places at the top of the form.
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Hazard Category and Hazard
You need to identify at least 10 significant hazards. These must come from at least 5 of the hazard categories that
are dealt with in the Unit IG2 course. The hazard categories are:
Radiation Work
Work-related
equipment Work-related
upper limb
driving
disorders
Mental
Manual
ill health
handling
Load- Vibration
handling Movement of Noise
equipment people and
vehicles
Substance
abuse Hazardous
substances
Confined
spaces
Electricity
Fire
Slips and
trips
Health, welfare
and work
environment
Working at height Lone working
Work-related
violence
There are 20 categories and you must pick your hazards from 5 or more of them.
Remember that hazards are ‘things that have the potential to cause harm’. Some of your hazards may be very poorly
controlled and some of them may be very well controlled. The key thing is that all of your 10 or more hazards must
have significant potential to cause harm in the form of either physical injury and/or ill health.
As you complete the first part of the form, remember to put the hazard category first and the hazard second. For
the hazard category, simply select the name of the topic from the above list of 20. For the hazard itself, identify it by
referring to the specific activity or area where it exists.
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The key things to remember here are:
• There must be at least 10 hazards.
• The hazards must come from at least 5 different hazard categories.
• The category is identified first followed by the hazard – which is identified using a little information so the
examiner can see the specific nature of the hazard.
Do not identify:
• Fewer than 10 hazards.
• Trivial or fanciful hazards.
• Hazards from fewer than 5 hazard categories.
Who Might be Harmed and How?
The second step of the risk assessment process is to identify who might be harmed and how for each of the specific
hazards that have been identified.
Identify broad categories of people such as workers, contractors, visitors and members of the public. Identify groups
of people or individuals who might be more vulnerable to the hazard in question, such as new and expectant
mothers, young people, lone workers, people with disabilities, etc.
You must write a short description about how these people might be harmed. This should include information about
when and how they are exposed to the hazard and the type of harm(s) that might occur.
What Are You Already Doing? and What Further Controls/Actions Are Required?
The third step in completing the risk assessment is to identify the control measures that are currently in place to
manage the risk created by each hazard and, where these control measures are inadequate, to identify the additional
control measures necessary to manage the risk down to an acceptable standard.
There are two columns to record this information, columns 3 and 4 on the Part 2 form. These two work in unison. So,
if very little is currently being done to manage the significant risk created by a particular hazard then the expectation
is that additional control measures are required.
Some of the control measures will be physical things such as guards on machinery and LEV systems to extract
hazardous airborne contaminants. Many of the control measures will be administrative or procedural, such as the
SSW for a particular maintenance task and maintenance programmes on items of equipment.
Once you have described all of the existing control measures for all of the hazards that you have picked out for
attention in your assessment, you then need to describe the additional controls required. In column 4 you need to
briefly describe the additional control measures that need to be introduced to further control the risks created by
your specific hazards.
Please note that the risk assessment methodology used in the practical assessment has no requirement for risk
rating and it makes no mention of likelihood or severity scoring.
Timescales For Further Action to be Completed and Responsible Person’s Job
Title/Role
The last step in completing the Part 2 risk assessment form is to allocate a timescale and a responsible person to
each of the additional control measures identified in column 4.
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When you are filling in the ‘Timescales’, make sure that you write in lengths of time and not deadline dates. You can
use any timescale you like but do not put deadline dates (such as 30 September 2020) and do not write ‘as soon as
possible’.
When you are allocating timescales think about two separate issues:
• What is the current level of risk presented by the hazard and how urgently is the further action required?
• How easy is it to carry out the additional action from a practical point of view?
When you are allocating responsibilities for each of the further actions required, you must do so on the basis of
people’s job roles or job titles. Bear in mind that some actions can and will be allocated to junior managers, others
to middle managers and some to senior managers. The nature of the action will determine which level, within the
organisation, the responsibilities are allocated.
Part 3 – Three Priority Actions
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Prioritise Three Actions and Justify the Selection
You must pick what you think are the three most urgent or highest priority actions from your Part 2 risk assessment
form. You must then justify your three choices by explaining, in detail, the:
• Moral, legal and financial reasons for taking these three actions.
• Current risk level presented by each of the relevant hazards as they are currently controlled (with reference both
to likelihood and severity of outcome, and the foreseeable injury or ill-health effects).
• Effectiveness of each proposed action in controlling the risk with some justification for the timescale allocated.
Your first task is to select the three most urgent/highest priority actions. All three actions must come from the risk
assessment form: ‘What further controls/actions are required?’. They can come from three completely separate
hazards/hazard categories, all from the same hazard/hazard category, or two from one hazard/hazard category and
one from another. However, it is probably a good idea to pick actions from three different hazards, even if those
hazards all come from the same hazard category.
• You will need to provide the moral, general legal and financial arguments that apply to all 3 actions. These
should be written collectively and cover the big picture reasons and implications. For example when writing
about the financial arguments you might provide examples of the fines levied for similar accidents or incidents,
the cost of HSE intervention and potential civil claims from injured parties.
NEBOSH suggest a word count of 300 to 350 words for this section.
• Then complete the justification for each action by:
Providing the specific legal arguments. Start by telling the examiner which three actions you have picked as
urgent.
You must then justify your three choices by clearly explaining the moral, legal and financial reasons for
taking the actions required. You must make use of all three arguments in your justification.
Importantly, when you are making your legal arguments, you must refer to the specific legislation that is
relevant to the hazard category/hazard in question. For the International General Certificate course (IG), you
must use the ILO Conventions, Recommendations and/or Codes of Practice that are relevant to the hazard
category/ hazard in question.
NEBOSH indicates a word count of 100–150 words for this section.
• The next step in your justification is to explain the risk that is currently created by each hazard as it is currently
controlled. This will require you to explain the foreseeable harm that each hazard might cause, such as the
range of possible physical injuries and/or the range of ill-health effects, the number of workers exposed to each
hazard, the duration and frequency of exposure, and the circumstances under which they might be exposed. You
must also explain the foreseeable harm that each hazard might cause, such as the range of possible physical
injuries and/or the range of ill-health effects.
NEBOSH indicates a word count of 75–150 words for this section.
• The final part of your justification requires you to explain how effective theeach action will be in controlling risk.
You must explain the likely impact of theeach action, how effective you think it will be in reducing risk and why
you have allocated the timescale that you have.
NEBOSH indicates a word count of 100–150 words for this section.
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Part 4 – Review, Communicate and Check
• In the first section of Part 4, you must give a risk assessment review date and explain why you have chosen that
date.
NEBOSH indicates a word count of 50–100 words for this section.
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