Health, Safety and Environmental Compliance
What this domain tests
Health, Safety and Environmental Compliance tests risk assessment, the hierarchy of controls, permit-to-work systems, and environmental duties such as spill control and waste segregation.
Core rules
- Hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, then PPE. PPE is the last line, never the primary control.
- Risk = likelihood × severity. Assess both the initial risk and the residual risk after controls, and record both.
- Permits to work are required for hot work, confined-space entry, excavation and energy isolation. Isolation uses lock-out/tag-out with a personal lock and a try-out (prove-dead) step.
- A job safety analysis breaks a task into steps and identifies hazards and controls per step.
- Noise: under a 3 dB exchange rate, an 8-hour 85 dB(A) exposure limit means 88 dB(A) is allowed for 4 hours. Under US OSHA rules the permissible exposure limit is 90 dB(A) TWA with a 5 dB exchange rate - check which regime applies.
Worked example
An unguarded rotating shaft is assessed at likelihood 4 × severity 5 = 20 (high). Fitting a fixed guard interlocked to the drive is an engineering control: likelihood falls to 1, residual risk 1 × 5 = 5 (low). Issuing gloves alone is administrative/PPE: likelihood falls only to 3, residual risk 15 (high). The hierarchy explains why the guard, not the glove, is the acceptable answer.
Traps
Listing PPE as the first control; recording only the initial risk and not the residual; a permit signed by the person performing the work; and confusing a hazard (the energy source) with the risk (the chance and consequence of harm).