Safety Quiz

Introduction

These questions on safety are examples of what is being used in the workplace. The purpose of this section is to enable compilers of safety quizzes, a  base to start from or a bit of inspiration when the Monday morning fog takes over.

The page has been designed so you can copy and paste the safety questions easier and quicker and be relevant to you, not all these questions will be suitable for all workplaces. This is not a safety quiz but questions you can adapt to create a quiz or test. If you look at Q 32 in general, the dates and statistics could easily be brought up to date. The first part is true or false questions and should be mixed with other types of questions e.g. multiple choice, spot the hazard or short descriptive answers. All of which will follow as these pages develop.

Answers are not included as I thought you most probably know them :)

Have you got any quizzes or questions you want to share with other safety professionals? 

Last additions 02/10/05

Safety quiz [beta]

DISCLAIMER

Please note, you will have to check validity of any references made on any of these questions, some of the questions may be old, some come from unknown sources, if you use them its up to YOU to check they are suitable and they comply with the law.

Question – true of false

General:

1. If you are self employed or employ less than 5 people you do not have to do a risk assessment.

2. The law says that risk assessment should be carried out at least annually

3. As an employer you need to assess the risk to your own employees but any sub contractors are responsible for their own employees whilst on your site

4. Temporary workers have the same right to safety information as other employees

5. Assessment of risk can best be done by a qualified external expert

6. A risk and a hazard are the same thing

7. The best time to assess risk from new machinery is when the equipment is in place and you can see what is involved for those using it

8. Risk assessment will check that equipment is properly used and maintained

9. Despite equality of opportunity for the sexes there are special rules governing risk assessment in the case of pregnant women

10. Noise does not represent a risk below about 90dB

11. By law you must first consider the possibility of eliminating a risk like noise e.g. by changing your equipment rather than by supplying the best quality ear defenders.

12. You only need to do a COSHH assessment if you have harmful chemicals but you must record all chemicals found when you do the assessment

13. Portable appliances must be tested at least every six months and labelled as tested.

14. Portable appliances must be tested at least every eighteen months and labelled as tested

15. Age doesn’t matter, risk affects everyone equally

16. Your boss is required by law to train you if you are exposed or likely to be exposed to a hazardous substance.

17. You have to keep occupational health surveillance records for 40 years

18. You have to keep occupational health surveillance records for 3 years.

19. If you have supplied an employee with safety glasses and subsequently the employee suffers an eye injury because they have not worn the glasses, your company has no further liability.

20. You have a duty to co-operate with your employer on health and safety matters including risk assessment

21. Your initial risk assessment in your call centre shows that several employees are suffering from headaches and eyestrain. You arrange for them all to have their eyes tested. One employee returns with a note from the optician saying that in the particular case prescription spectacles are required. You as the employer have to supply them.

22. As the owner you have employed a safety manager. An employee suffers death when a serious workplace fire occurs. You had left things to the safety manager who had always claimed that he was on top of safety matters. In court you are fairly likely to be exonerated whilst the safety officer is taken to task for failure to act professionally.

23. Personal protective equipment and clothing must be maintained in a sanitary condition and ready for use. Interchanging personal protective clothing or equipment between employees is prohibited unless it has been properly cleaned.

24. Approved safety glasses must be worn at all times in areas where there is a risk of eye injuries such as punctures, abrasions, contusions, or burns. Protective goggles or face shields must be worn where there is a danger of flying particles or corrosive materials.

25. Approved hard hats must be worn where the danger of falling objects exists; they should be inspected periodically for damage to the shell and suspension system.

26. Appropriate foot protection is required where there is a risk of foot injuries from hot or corrosive substances; falling objects; or crushing or penetrating actions.

27.  Only those employees who have been trained in the proper use of forklifts are authorized to operate them.

28. The use of metal ladders is prohibited in areas where the ladder or person using the ladder could come in contact with energized parts of equipment, fixtures, or circuit conductors.

29. Health and safety failures cost Great Britain up to £18[##] billion each year.

30. 400 [##] people every year are still killed in accidents caused by work activities.

31.  Over 25,000 [##] people are forced to give up work every year as a result of work-related accidents and ill-health.

32. Around 2 million people - 5 per cent of the population - suffer from ill-health caused by work.

33. Over a million workers get injured every year.

34. Around half a million people suffer from stress caused by their work

35. The most common forms of work-related ill-health are back problems and other aches and pains with 1.2 million people affected every year, causing almost 10 million working days to be lost.

36. In 1998/99 [##/##] there were almost 29,000 [######]  major injuries to workers.

37. In 1998/99 [##/##] there were 131,000 workers had to take more than three days off work as a result of a work-related injury

38. More than 24,000 members of the public were injured as the result of a work activity.

39. Every year around 3000 people die as a result of past exposure to asbestos.

40. Falls from a height are the most common cause of death to employees.

41. Workers in small manufacturing firms are more than twice as likely to be killed at work than workers in larger firms in the same sector.

42. Self-employed people are twice as likely to be killed at work as employees.

43. Workplaces with safety representatives have half the rate of accidents of workplaces that don’t have safety representatives

44. The fatal injury rate for employees in Great Britain is a quarter of what it was in 1971

45. Great Britain has a lower rate of deaths to workers than America or any other European country: the rate is 1.7 per 100,000 workers in Great Britain; 3.2 in America and an average of 3.9 across Europe.

46. The rate of deaths per 100,000 workers is 3.7 per cent in Germany and 4.3 in France

47. The cost of work-related accidents and ill-health to employers equals £140 - £300 for each worker employed

48. The cost of work-related accidents and illness to employees is estimated at between £3.5 billion and £7.3 billion a year.

49. Over £180 million could be saved in work-related illness costs in the construction industry alone.

50. Around one in five workers have been physically attacked or threatened by a member of the public.

51. Some insurers, particularly in higher hazard sectors, offer discounts of up to 20 per cent if employers can demonstrate good health and safety arrangements 

Manual Handling:

1. When lifting items from below arm level, you should bend your knees, not your back, to lower your body to the object
2. As you lift, you should bring the load as close as possible to the body before lifting.
3. Your grip on the object is very important. You should grip firmly with your hands (not just fingers) and keep your arms and elbows tucked in for more strength.
4. Pull, rather than push when moving equipment.
5. Push, rather than pull when moving equipment.
6. Bending from a seated position and sitting back up places tremendous strain on your back
7. When carrying a load, you must have a good line of sight; therefore, be sure you can see where you are going and move slowly enough to avoid bumping into other objects.
8. If no pain is noticed while doing repetitive task than you do not have to worry about cumulative trauma.
9. Do not twist your body while carrying heavy objects; twisting is a major cause of injury. If you need to change directions, move your feet in that direction first.
10. Create and maintain ease of access to piles or stacks of materials.
11. Proper lifting techniques can injure spinal tissues.
12. Stretching and mobility exercises for the back and key leg muscles can be used prior to work as a warm-up, as well as after work to restore flexibility.
13. Lifting is safest when you keep your back straight and your stomach muscles tight. Staying in good physical condition and getting proper exercise are also important.

14. Loads should be broken down to movable weights, routes planned, and legs used to do the work. If an object is too heavy, help should be obtained or a handcart or device used.

15. Try to carry all loads by yourself to save time.
16. A manual handling risk assessment is only to find out if you are strong enough to do the job
     

Fire:

1. Fire results from combining - fuel, oxygen, and heat or an ignition source.
2. Smoking only in permitted areas is a fire prevention precaution.
3. It is acceptable to store compressed gas cylinders in the upright position
4. It is not necessary to clean grease accumulation from the kitchen exhaust hoods and filters
5. It is important to provide suitable waste cans for oil-soaked rags.
6. Fire extinguishers are special pressurized devices that release chemicals or water to put out a fire
7. Combustible materials should not be stored next to heaters
8. It is acceptable to store combustible and flammable liquids in a boiler room.
9. A Type [A,B,C] fire extinguisher is used to extinguish fires that are involved in wood [electrical, liquid] fires.

Display Screen Equipment [DSE]:

1. The keyboard should be approximately at your elbow height when seated.
2. People who work in offices don't have to worry about workplace health and safety.
3. If no pain is noticed while doing repetitive task than you do not have to worry about cumulative trauma.
4. Bending from a seated position and sitting back up places tremendous strain on your back.
5. An assessment of display screen equipment checks more than just the equipment.

Office:

1. If electrical equipment malfunctions and emits a strange odour, use it until you can call maintenance personnel.
2. When using a paper cutter, keep your fingers clear of the blade at all times.
3. You should always leave your file drawer open to retrieve files quicker.
4. Office materials that are improperly stored can lead to objects falling on workers, poor visibility, and create a fire hazard.
5. Overloading electrical circuits and extension cords can result in fire.
6. Never stack combustible material near sources of ignition.
7. Always pull a plug from an outlet from the cord.
8. Chairs should be used as step ladders.
9. Office falls are frequently caused by using makeshift ladders.
10. Loose carpeting does not cause falls in offices
11. Wet floors do not cause slips and/or falls.
12. Workplace tidiness and waste disposal are included in risk assessment.

Access and Egress:

1. All exit doors and passages must be clear and free of obstruction. 
2. Exit signs, and their illuminating light source, must be kept clear of obstruction and in place at all times
3. At least two means of egress must be kept open from elevated platforms, pits, or rooms where the absence of a second exit would increase the risk of injury from hot, poisonous, corrosive, suffocating, flammable, or explosive substances
4. Aisles and passageways must be kept clear of obstruction
5. Materials spilled in walkways must be cleaned up immediately.
6. When present, markings on aisles and walkways must be observed
7. Materials or equipment must be stored in such a way that sharp projections will not interfere with walkways
8. Materials must be stored so that adequate headroom is provided for the entire length of any aisle or walkway.
9. Handrails on stairways must be used to prevent falling; steps should be taken one at a time.
10. Safe clearance must be allowed for walking in aisles where motorised or mechanical handling equipment is operating
11. Slip resistant material applied on the surface of steps must not be removed.
12. Workplace tidiness and waste disposal are included in risk assessment
     

Ladders:

1. Never use a ladder in the horizontal position as a scaffold or work platform
2. Short ladders should not be spliced together
3. Use any type of ladder for any job
4. Never attempt to straighten or use a bent ladder.
5. Anyone can repair a broken ladder.
6. Keep ladders protected from heat, weather and corrosive materials
7. Never use a damaged ladder.
8. Ladders should always be inspected prior to use.
9. It is acceptable to use a metal ladder for electrical work if the floor area is dry.
10. A stepladder does not have to be fully open and firmly locked in place when in use.

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quiz 2