Legislation, Regulations and Personal Responsibilities
Candidates must understand the framework rather than recite sections: duties on employers and the self-employed to manage health and safety, duties on employees to take reasonable care and cooperate, and the specific duties around work at height, lifting equipment and plant. Key concepts include competence, adequate supervision, provision and use of work equipment, and the requirement that work at height is avoided, prevented, or mitigated in that order.
Traps include believing that a subcontractor's competence discharges the principal duty holder's responsibility - duties are not simply delegated by contract. Another trap is confusing the duty to report certain incidents with a general duty to report all incidents; only specified categories are reportable, though internal reporting should cover more. Questions may also test whether a worker can refuse to use unsafe equipment - they must not use it and must report it.
Personal responsibility is central: following procedures, using equipment as trained, reporting defects and near misses, and not interfering with safety devices. Near-miss reporting is a leading indicator and is expected, not optional.
Rule of thumb: the duty holder cannot contract out of statutory duties. Worked example: a tower supplied by a hirer with a defect - the user still has a duty to check before use and must not operate it; reporting to the hirer does not transfer the user's duty to take reasonable care.