SSSTS Supervisor Responsibilities — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under UK health and safety law, what is the primary duty of a site supervisor regarding the workers under their control?
- To ensure maximum productivity at all times
- To take reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of workers under their supervision (Correct answer)
- To complete all paperwork for the principal contractor
- To negotiate wages on behalf of workers
Correct answer: To take reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of workers under their supervision
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers and those in supervisory roles must take reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of those under their control. Site supervisors play a critical role in implementing this duty on site.
Question 2: A site supervisor notices a worker not wearing their hard hat in a designated area. What should the supervisor do first?
- Ignore it as it is the worker's personal choice
- Stop the worker, explain the risk, ensure they put on their hard hat, and record the intervention (Correct answer)
- Send the worker home immediately without discussion
- Wait until the end of the shift to discuss it
Correct answer: Stop the worker, explain the risk, ensure they put on their hard hat, and record the intervention
The supervisor should immediately intervene to address the PPE non-compliance. This involves stopping the unsafe behaviour, explaining why the hard hat is required (risk of head injury from falling objects), ensuring compliance, and recording the intervention for safety management purposes.
Question 3: What is the role of a site supervisor in relation to site safety briefings?
- Safety briefings are solely the responsibility of the health and safety officer
- The supervisor should deliver or facilitate regular safety briefings, ensuring workers understand site-specific hazards and safe working procedures (Correct answer)
- Briefings are only required at the start of a project
- Supervisors should delegate all briefings to the most junior worker
Correct answer: The supervisor should deliver or facilitate regular safety briefings, ensuring workers understand site-specific hazards and safe working procedures
Site supervisors are responsible for delivering regular safety briefings, including daily briefings for high-risk activities. These briefings communicate site-specific hazards, safe systems of work, emergency procedures, and any changes to working conditions.
Question 4: Under UK law, when must a site supervisor report an accident to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)?
- Only if a worker dies
- When the accident results in a death, specified injury, dangerous occurrence, or an over-7-day incapacitation, as defined by RIDDOR 2013 (Correct answer)
- Only if the client requests it
- Accidents never need to be reported
Correct answer: When the accident results in a death, specified injury, dangerous occurrence, or an over-7-day incapacitation, as defined by RIDDOR 2013
Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013, certain incidents must be reported to the HSE, including deaths, specified injuries (fractures, amputations, loss of consciousness), dangerous occurrences, and injuries resulting in over 7 consecutive days of incapacitation.
Question 5: What document should a site supervisor check before allowing a subcontractor's workers onto site?
- The subcontractor's company logo and branding
- The subcontractor's competence records, including CSCS cards, relevant training certificates, and insurance documentation (Correct answer)
- The subcontractor's social media presence
- Only the subcontractor's invoice
Correct answer: The subcontractor's competence records, including CSCS cards, relevant training certificates, and insurance documentation
Before allowing subcontractor workers onto site, the supervisor should verify their competence through CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) cards, relevant training and qualification certificates, and confirm the subcontractor has adequate insurance (employer's liability and public liability).
Question 6: A site supervisor discovers that a piece of plant equipment has a defective safety guard. What action should they take?
- Allow work to continue if the operator is experienced
- Immediately take the equipment out of use, tag it as defective, and arrange for repair or replacement before it is used again (Correct answer)
- Ask the operator to be extra careful
- Report it at the next weekly meeting
Correct answer: Immediately take the equipment out of use, tag it as defective, and arrange for repair or replacement before it is used again
Defective safety guards present an immediate risk of serious injury. The supervisor must take the equipment out of service immediately, clearly tag or mark it as defective to prevent use, and arrange for competent repair or replacement. Work with the equipment must not resume until the guard is properly functioning.
SSSTS Supervisor Responsibilities
Under UK health and safety law, what is the primary duty of a site supervisor regarding the workers under their control?