Certified Safety Professional Exam Safety Management Systems and Auditing 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the purpose of a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), also called a Job Safety Analysis (JSA)?
- To calculate workers' compensation premiums
- To identify hazards associated with each step of a job task and determine controls (Correct answer)
- To evaluate employee performance during task execution
- To document production efficiency metrics
Correct answer: To identify hazards associated with each step of a job task and determine controls
A JHA breaks a job into sequential steps, identifies hazards at each step, and prescribes controls to eliminate or reduce those hazards before work begins.
Question 2: In root cause analysis, what does the '5 Whys' technique involve?
- Interviewing five witnesses after an incident
- Repeatedly asking 'why' to drill down from symptoms to the underlying root cause of a problem (Correct answer)
- Applying five regulatory standards to a single incident
- Reviewing five years of incident history to find patterns
Correct answer: Repeatedly asking 'why' to drill down from symptoms to the underlying root cause of a problem
The 5 Whys technique iteratively asks 'why' at each answer until the fundamental root cause is reached, typically within five iterations.
Question 3: What is the OSHA recordkeeping criterion for a 'Days Away from Work' (DAFW) case?
- Any work-related illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid
- A work-related injury or illness where the physician recommends at least one day away from work (Correct answer)
- Any injury requiring emergency room treatment
- A work-related injury resulting in permanent disability
Correct answer: A work-related injury or illness where the physician recommends at least one day away from work
A DAFW case is recorded when a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the worker remain away from work for at least one calendar day due to a work-related condition.
Question 4: What does the 'Swiss Cheese Model' of accident causation illustrate?
- Accidents result from a single catastrophic failure
- Multiple defensive layers each have holes; accidents occur when the holes align (Correct answer)
- Safety systems work best when built in layers without gaps
- Chemical exposure pathways through porous materials
Correct answer: Multiple defensive layers each have holes; accidents occur when the holes align
Reason's Swiss Cheese Model shows that accidents require multiple defense layers to fail simultaneously — when the 'holes' in each layer align, a hazard passes through causing an incident.
Question 5: Which safety metric is calculated as (number of recordable incidents × 200,000) ÷ total hours worked?
- Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)
- Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) (Correct answer)
- Severity Rate (SR)
- Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rate
Correct answer: Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR)
TRIR uses 200,000 hours (equivalent to 100 full-time workers working one year) as a normalizing factor to allow comparison across organizations of different sizes.
Question 6: What is the primary function of a safety management system's 'management review' process?
- To discipline employees who commit safety violations
- To evaluate overall OHS system performance and drive resource allocation and continual improvement at the leadership level (Correct answer)
- To review workers' compensation claims quarterly
- To audit contractor safety programs
Correct answer: To evaluate overall OHS system performance and drive resource allocation and continual improvement at the leadership level
Management review ensures senior leadership evaluates whether the safety management system is achieving its objectives and directs improvements, resource allocation, and strategic adjustments.
Certified Safety Professional Exam Safety Management Systems and Auditing 2
What is the purpose of a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), also called a Job Safety Analysis (JSA)?