Safety and Risk Management
What this domain tests
How you identify, rank and control hazards in a handling and delivery environment, and what you report. Items test the hierarchy of controls, risk rating, manual handling, vehicle checks, and the distinction between an incident and a near-miss.
Core concepts
- Hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrate, then PPE. PPE is the last line, never the first answer.
- Risk rating: likelihood multiplied by severity. Reducing either factor lowers the rating; a severe-consequence, low-likelihood hazard still demands controls.
- Manual handling: assess the load before lifting; use mechanical aids or a team lift when the load is awkward, not only when it is heavy. Twisting while lifting is the classic injury mechanism.
- Vehicle pre-check: tyres, lights, brakes, load restraint and mirrors before departure; a defect grounds the vehicle.
- Near-miss: an event with no injury or damage that could have caused harm. It is reportable, because it is free evidence of a live hazard.
Worked example
Two hazards are ranked. A: a wet floor near the sorting belt, likely weekly, causing at worst a bruise. B: an unsecured stack of cages beside a pedestrian aisle, unlikely but capable of a crush injury. Scoring likelihood times severity, A rates low-to-medium and B rates high despite lower likelihood. The correct control order is to fix B first (engineer the restraint or separate the aisle), then address A with drainage or signage - not to treat the frequent minor hazard as automatically the priority.
Traps that cost marks
- Reaching for PPE as the primary control.
- Ranking hazards by how often they occur while ignoring severity.
- Deciding a near-miss needs no report because nothing happened.
- Lifting an awkward load alone because it is not heavy.