Occupational Health and Safety Program Management
A functioning OHS program is a management system, not a binder. Understand the plan-do-check-act cycle as it appears in consensus frameworks: a written policy signed by top management, defined roles and accountability, hazard identification and risk assessment processes, operational controls, performance monitoring, and management review. Candidates should be able to distinguish policy (intent and commitment), objectives (measurable targets), procedures (how tasks are done), and records (evidence). Know the concept of the internal responsibility system, joint health and safety committees, and the difference between leading indicators (inspections completed, training hours, near-miss reporting) and lagging indicators (injury rates, lost-time claims).
Common traps: confusing accountability with delegation (a manager may delegate tasks but not legal responsibility); treating a low injury rate as proof of a good program when reporting is suppressed; and selecting a lagging indicator when the question asks what predicts future performance. Another frequent trap is assuming a written program satisfies the legal duty of implementation.
Rule of thumb: if a control appears only on paper and no one can describe how it is verified, it is not yet a program element. Worked example: a site has zero lost-time injuries but declining near-miss reports and overdue inspections. The correct interpretation is deteriorating leading indicators and possible under-reporting, not program success.