NCSO flashcards
NCSO · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- PDCA cycle
- A continuous improvement model with four phases: Plan (set objectives and processes), Do (implement), Check (monitor and measure), and Act (correct and improve). It underpins ISO 45001 and ISO 14001.
- TRIR
- Total Recordable Incident Rate, calculated as (recordable cases × 200,000) divided by total hours worked. It normalizes injury experience to 100 full-time workers at 2,000 hours per year.
- Leading indicator
- A proactive measure of prevention activities, such as inspections completed, training hours, or hazard reports submitted. It predicts future safety performance rather than measuring past harm.
- Management review
- A planned, top-level evaluation of the OHS management system's suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness, covering audit results, incident trends, legal compliance, and resource needs.
- Internal Responsibility System
- The legal principle that every workplace party-employer, supervisor, worker, and joint committee-shares responsibility for occupational health and safety, with defined duties and rights.
- Due diligence
- A legal defense requiring the employer to demonstrate that reasonable steps were taken to prevent an incident, including documented policies, training, supervision, and corrective actions.
- Right to refuse
- A worker's legal right to refuse work believed to be unsafe, without reprisal, pending investigation and resolution through the prescribed process.
- Joint Health and Safety Committee
- A committee of worker and employer representatives required in many jurisdictions above a worker threshold, responsible for identifying hazards, recommending controls, and reviewing incidents.
- Hierarchy of controls
- A ranked list of control measures from most to least effective: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.
- Risk matrix
- A tool that plots likelihood against severity to rank hazards as low, medium, high, or critical, guiding prioritization of control measures.
- Residual risk
- The risk remaining after controls have been applied. It must be documented, evaluated against acceptability criteria, and accepted by an authorized person.
- ALARP
- As Low As Reasonably Practicable: the principle that risk should be reduced until the cost and effort of further reduction are grossly disproportionate to the benefit.
- Job hazard analysis
- A method that breaks a task into steps, identifies hazards at each step, and specifies controls before work begins. It is often used for high-risk or non-routine tasks.
- Root cause analysis
- A structured process to identify the underlying system failures that contributed to an incident, using tools such as 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, and fault tree analysis.
- Near miss
- An unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage but had the potential to do so. Reporting near misses reveals control weaknesses before harm occurs.
- Swiss cheese model
- James Reason's model showing that incidents occur when holes in multiple defensive layers align, allowing a hazard to pass through all barriers.
- Audit nonconformity
- A documented failure to meet a requirement of the standard or management system, classified as major or minor and requiring a corrective action plan.
- Kirkpatrick evaluation levels
- Four levels of training evaluation: reaction (satisfaction), learning (knowledge gain), behavior (on-the-job application), and results (organizational impact).
- Toolbox talk
- A short, focused safety discussion held before or during work to address specific hazards, controls, and reminders relevant to the day's tasks.
- Training needs analysis
- A systematic process that identifies gaps between required competencies and current knowledge, skills, and abilities for each role, guiding training priorities.
- Safety culture
- The shared values, beliefs, and behaviors regarding safety in an organization, ranging from reactive compliance to proactive, learning-oriented generative cultures.
- Emergency response priorities
- The ordered goals of emergency response: first life safety, then incident stabilization, then protection of property and the environment.
- Assembly point
- A designated safe location where evacuees gather for accountability after leaving a building during an emergency.
- Emergency drill
- A planned exercise that tests emergency procedures, communication, and roles, followed by an evaluation and corrective actions to improve the plan.
- Time-weighted average
- An exposure metric calculated as the sum of concentration multiplied by time, divided by the total exposure period, typically normalized to an 8-hour shift.
- TLV
- Threshold Limit Value: a health-based occupational exposure guideline published by ACGIH, representing airborne concentrations believed safe for most workers over a working lifetime.
- Hearing conservation program
- A program required when noise exposure reaches 85 dBA as an 8-hour TWA, including monitoring, audiometric testing, hearing protection, training, and recordkeeping.
- NIOSH lifting equation
- A formula that calculates a recommended weight limit using load, horizontal, vertical, distance, asymmetry, frequency, and coupling multipliers; the lifting index is load divided by RWL.
- Waste hierarchy
- A ranked preference for waste management: prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery (including energy), and disposal as the least preferred option.
- ISO 14001
- The international standard for environmental management systems, providing a framework for policy, planning, implementation, evaluation, and continual improvement of environmental performance.
- Secondary containment
- A barrier or structure that captures leaks or spills from primary containers, preventing release to the environment, often required for hazardous liquids.
- Informed consent
- The ethical and legal requirement to disclose relevant information and obtain voluntary agreement before collecting, using, or disclosing personal health information.