COHN Workplace Hazard Identification 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An occupational health nurse reviewing OSHA 300 logs notices a cluster of hand lacerations in one production department over three months. This is an example of which hazard identification approach?
- Prospective hazard surveillance
- Reactive injury trend analysis (Correct answer)
- Biological exposure monitoring
- Industrial hygiene sampling
Correct answer: Reactive injury trend analysis
Analyzing OSHA 300 log injury patterns after they have occurred is a reactive approach that identifies hazard clusters through trend analysis of recorded incidents.
Question 2: Which tool specifically uses a checklist methodology to systematically identify hazards associated with individual job tasks in a step-by-step manner?
- Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) (Correct answer)
- Root cause analysis
- Epidemiological cohort study
- Toxicological risk assessment
Correct answer: Job Hazard Analysis (JHA)
A Job Hazard Analysis breaks each job into sequential steps and identifies potential hazards and controls for each step, providing a structured task-level hazard identification method.
Question 3: A worker who handles pesticides daily is found to have cholinesterase levels 30% below their pre-employment baseline. This finding PRIMARILY indicates:
- Kidney damage from solvent exposure
- Organophosphate or carbamate pesticide absorption (Correct answer)
- Hepatotoxicity from chronic chemical exposure
- Normal variation in enzymatic activity
Correct answer: Organophosphate or carbamate pesticide absorption
Organophosphate and carbamate pesticides inhibit cholinesterase enzyme activity; a significant drop from baseline confirms systemic absorption and indicates a biological hazard exposure.
Question 4: Under OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030), which workplace evaluation method is required to identify and document tasks that involve exposure to blood or OPIM?
- Industrial hygiene monitoring
- Exposure determination (Correct answer)
- Medical surveillance program
- Biological monitoring protocol
Correct answer: Exposure determination
OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard requires employers to perform an exposure determination, identifying all job classifications and tasks with reasonably anticipated exposure to blood or OPIM.
Question 5: Which factor would cause the occupational health nurse to classify a chemical as presenting a HIGHER inhalation hazard, even at a lower air concentration?
- High vapor pressure and low permissible exposure limit (Correct answer)
- Low boiling point and high molecular weight
- High flash point and low vapor pressure
- High water solubility and neutral pH
Correct answer: High vapor pressure and low permissible exposure limit
A chemical with high vapor pressure readily evaporates to create airborne concentrations, while a low PEL means even small concentrations are hazardous, together indicating a high inhalation hazard.
Question 6: During a facility audit, an occupational health nurse identifies that flammable liquids are stored in standard metal cabinets rather than approved flammable storage cabinets. This represents which category of hazard?
- Biological hazard
- Physical hazard – fire and explosion (Correct answer)
- Ergonomic hazard
- Psychosocial hazard
Correct answer: Physical hazard – fire and explosion
Improper storage of flammable liquids creates a fire and explosion physical hazard; OSHA and NFPA standards require approved flammable liquid storage cabinets to contain vapors and withstand fire.
Question 7: The occupational health nurse is assessing heat stress hazards in an outdoor construction site. Which environmental measurement is MOST useful for calculating the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index?
- Relative humidity alone
- Air temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and air movement (Correct answer)
- Barometric pressure and dew point
- UV index and altitude
Correct answer: Air temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and air movement
WBGT integrates natural wet bulb temperature (humidity/evaporation), globe temperature (radiant heat), and dry bulb temperature (air temperature) to provide a comprehensive heat stress index.
COHN Workplace Hazard Identification 5
An occupational health nurse reviewing OSHA 300 logs notices a cluster of hand lacerations in one production department over three months.
This is an example of which hazard identification approach?