May - July 2014

Examiners Report
NEBOSH International
General Certificate in
Occupational Health
and 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

General comments

Candidate performance

Examination technique

Command words

Learning outcomes

Conclusion

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

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.

Unit GC2
Controlling workplace hazards
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.

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.

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 NEBOSHs Guidance on command words document, which is
available on our website: www.nebosh.org.uk/students/default.asp?cref=1345&ct=2

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.

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. Handheld 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.

The National Examination

Board in Occupational
Safety and Health
Dominus Way
Meridian Business Park
Leicester LE19 1QW
telephone +44 (0)116 2634700
fax +44 (0)116 2824000
email info@nebosh.org.uk
www.nebosh.org.uk