Occupational Safety, Entrepreneurship and Workplace Practices
What this domain tests
This domain tests safe workshop habits, basic costing and pricing, record keeping, and professional workplace practice. Questions may ask you to identify a hazard, calculate a selling price, or choose the correct action for a customer complaint.
Core rules
- Safety: guard machine needles and keep fingers away from the needle path; dispose of broken needles in a sharps container; keep scissors closed and pointed away; use a thimble and good task lighting; take breaks to avoid eye strain and repetitive strain; maintain posture and an adjustable chair; keep dyes, adhesives and solvents ventilated and away from food; check plugs and cables.
- Costing: total cost = materials + labour + overheads. Labour = time × hourly rate. Overhead includes rent, electricity, machine depreciation and packaging. Selling price can be set by a mark-up on cost or by a target margin on the selling price. Keep an order book, stock register, receipt book and customer measurements.
- Workplace practice: use 5S (sort, set in order, shine, standardise, sustain); label stock; record batch numbers; confirm design, size, delivery date and price in writing; inspect before packing; deliver on time.
Worked example
A cushion cover uses ₹80 of fabric and thread, 3 hours of labour at ₹40 per hour, and ₹30 overhead. Total cost = 80 + 120 + 30 = ₹230. For a 20% margin on the selling price, price = 230 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = ₹287.50, rounded to ₹290. A 20% mark-up on cost would give only ₹276. Reasoning: margin is calculated on the selling price, mark-up on cost; mixing them underprices the work.
Traps
Forgetting to charge for labour; confusing mark-up with margin; storing needles in fabric or on the floor; using a machine with a missing needle guard; and accepting a rushed order without a written specification.