International Diploma in Safety Engineering (IDSE)
Qualifi Endorsed Qualification
UNIT 2: Principles and Applications of Science and Technology in Safety
Total Time: 24 Hours (+2 hours for submission) Total Marks: 150
Total Questions: 15 Passing Marks: 75
Exam Start Time and Date: 12th March 2025 9:00 am (Pakistan Standard Time)
Submission Time and Date:13th March 2025 before 11:00 am (Pakistan Standard Time)
Exam Instructions
This is an Open Book Non-invigilated exam. You may consult books and, internet
resources during the exam.
Do not share your question paper (either in part or full) with any other person or the
organization. Comply with all instructions mentioned in your exam registration slip.
Total Marks are 150 and maximum marks for the questions are given against each.
Do not add any externally downloaded picture/graph as part of your answer. You can
however make sketches/ graphs to support your answers.
Support your answers with logical arguments and examples relevant to the given
scenario. Generic and Bookish answers will not be accepted by the examiners. The
examples of generic answers include, but not limited to, incompetent person,
management commitment, lack of maintenance, negative safety culture, and regulatory
requirements etc.
All Questions are compulsory and must be answered to gain maximum marks
Do not directly copy/paste from any source (Not even a single paragraph). Write
all answers in your own words. Neither take nor offer any help/assistance to other
candidates/ individuals/ organizations to complete the exams. Any identical work
in terms of similar sentences or common ideas (Common bullet points) will lead to
the initiation of malpractice investigation.
Do not let any other person complete the exam on your behalf. The closing interview has
been designed to confirm if the submitted work is your own or not. In case the learners
are unable to defend their submitted work then their results will be declared void along
with other disqualification penalties as appropriate.
It is your responsibility to save your written work from data loss. No extra time will be
given for submission of the answer sheets. The answer sheets received after 11:00 am
(Pakistan Standard Time) 13th March 2025 will not be entertained.
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You must only “Type” your answer in the given answer sheet. Handwritten
responses or scan copies will not be accepted.
Submit your answer sheet in MS word file to [email protected] and CC to
[email protected]. The subject of email must be your “name and learner number” only.
You must send your answer sheet from your email ID registered with Proftech Leading
Institute.
The answer sheet must be sent in a single file. No password protection should be
applied on the file. The “file name” should be your learner number followed by your
name.
Write Question numbers for all answers. The answers without a question number will not
be marked by the examiner.
The company names in the exam are not real and only for the purpose of creating the
exam scenarios.
Word limit for each answer is maximum 500 words. The length of your response
against each question is not the criteria for marking. The response is marked based on
its effectiveness in a given scenario, its relevance to the scenario, conciseness,
correctness and completeness. Irrelevant information (if included) will result in deduction
of marks even if you have mentioned many valuable points in your answer.
Question Paper Starts from here
Section A
Carefully analyze the following scenario and answer to the 5 questions in context
with given scenario only. Any generic or irrelevant response will not be accepted
by the examiner
Workplace Situation/ Scenario
“ABC recycling” is a small plastic bottles shredding unit which collects empty plastic
bottles, stores them in an open warehouse, shreds them and compresses them through
a hydraulic press to form small easy to handle cubes before finally transporting them to
the next process to another business. The company has total 15 employees as its
permanent staff members. The company was lately fined by the regulatory body due to
the unavailability of suitable risk assessments while conducting high risk activities which
may have resulted in amputation of body parts or even death of the workers.
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Most of the workers are non-educated apart from the director of the company and the
store manager. The director of this company has supposedly invited you as consultant
and requested that a brief meeting should be held to understand their requirements and
subsequently a solution may be given by the consultant (You) keeping in view their
limitations and requirements.
You went to meet the director on his site office. You see that there is a spacious yard
with pile of plastic bottles on one side and a shredding machine with a hopper of 10X10
feet. Under the shredding machine is a conveyor which transports the shredded plastic
towards the hydraulic press where they are compressed and stored.
There is a small makeshift office on one corner of the yard
The director believes that there is no requirement of written documents as the workers
e.g. drivers and machine operators (Shredder and Hydraulic Press operators) cannot
even read these documents.
You supposedly observed the following during your visit at the site;
- Hydraulic shovel is being used to feed the hopper. The simultaneous pedestrians
and vehicle operations are a severe safety risk.
- When the hopper gets jammed, a worker jumps into the hopper to press the bottles
with his weight which poses a serious risk to life of the worker.
- Workers are seen in close proximity to unguarded fast-moving conveyer belt which
pose a serious risk of safety for the workers.
- Workers seen carrying out maintenance on moving machinery and were being
exposed to moving machine parts.
You point out all these violations to the director who also is accompanying you during
the site visit. The director is reluctant that there is no safety issue as these workers
have been doing this work for the last many years and there has been no accident so
far.
You asked the director what they want from your consultant company. The director
replied that make some risk assessments for us which we just sign at the start of the
day and continue our work without any changes to our usual way of doing work.
You insisted that there is a dire need for change in working methods as well as addition
of some engineering controls to minimize the likelihood of hazards.
You understand from the meeting that the director of this company is only interested to
avoid legal penalties and they just wish to have something to show to regulatory body
without actually providing any control measures.
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You told the director that you will discuss the details with the senior consultant and will
revert.
2 days after your visit, you came to know that a worker at “ABC Recycling” has died at
the site due to machinery.
All 5 questions carry 10 marks each (Total 50 Marks)
Keeping in view the above-mentioned scenario, please answer to the following
questions;
Question 1- What engineering control you should have proposed to eliminate the
workers jumping into the hopper to press the feeder in order to clear the blockage? The
engineering control must also take into account the problem of blockage. 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 6 Marks for the effective engineering control
- 4 Marks if the engineering control is financially viable
You only have to propose single engineering control
Question 2- What administrative controls may have been used to avoid the tragic
accident? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 2.5 Marks for each effective administrative control
You must mention engineering control for all the given hazards. Only one administrative
control for each hazard.
Question 3-What as a consultant you should have immediately proposed to the director
keeping in view their requirements i.e. unwillingness to change the methods of working?
10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 5 Marks for the proposal with minimum cost implications
- 5 Marks for the effectiveness of the proposal in minimizing the risks
Question 4-What do you think that regulatory bodies can do more in order to save lives
of workers who work in such businesses where they are encouraged to take safety risks
and appreciated? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 2 Marks for each effective and practical solution
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Question 5-Why do you think that the director of the business had low risk perception?
Suppose you work in this company then what you should have done to convince the
director about the actual level of risk the workers are being exposed to? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 4 Marks for identifying reasons for low risk perception
- 3 marks for your action plan to convince your director about actual level of risk
- 3 marks for your convincing arguments
You do not have to mention moral, legal and financial arguments in your response
to this question.
Section B
Carefully analyze the following scenarios and answer to the question/s in context
with given scenarios/discussions only. Any generic or irrelevant responses will
not be accepted by the examiner.
Inspections
“XYZ lifting” is a medium sized company which carries out various lifting projects
through a number of their lifting equipment mainly hydraulic boom cranes. The company
has more than 20 cranes with varying lifting capacity i.e. from 50 to 300 tones. Lately,
during a lifting operation at one of the client’s site, the load suddenly fell down during
the lifting due to the breakage of the steel rope. The accident alarmed the management
who carried out the investigation to find out the reason why the steel rope was broken
although it was recently commissioned almost 6 months ago.
The management as an interim arrangement decided to carry out the inspection for all
the steel ropes which have been commissioned on all the cranes.
Question 6 –Mention the non-destructive methods of steel rope inspections and also
explain how each method will be satisfactorily used to accept or reject each steel rope?
10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 4 Marks for identifying the non-destruction methods (Min 2 methods)
- 3 marks for the detailed explanation of first method how it will accept or reject
- 3 marks for the detailed explanation of second method how it will accept or reject
Question 7 –What destructive method of steel rope inspection can be used. Explain in
detail about the method and how it will be satisfactorily used to accept or reject each
steel rope? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
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- 3 Marks for identifying the best destructive inspection method
- 7 marks for details about the method how it will accept or reject
Basic Machines
The basic machines e.g. screw, pulley, inclined plane, lever, wedge, axle & wheel and
hydraulic equipment have made it easy to lift, transport heavy loads with ease. A range
of manual equipment uses these basic machines or hydraulic equipment to get the job
done easily. For OSH professionals, its imperative to understand the principle behind
these basic machines as well as the hydraulic equipment which creates a mechanical
advantage and thus makes it possible that even a single person may lift tons of load
without any external power source.
Question 8 – Explain the principle behind all the basic machines and hydraulic system
which makes it possible to lift heavy loads with quite ease? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 5 Marks for the explanation of scientific principle behind the mechanical advantage
- 5 Marks for the example (Min 2 examples for 2 different basic machines) that how
the principle is being used
Question 9– Why hydraulic equipment is a preferred choice in a range of industrial and
commercial lifting equipment in contrast to other basic machines? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 6 Marks for the detailed reason of preference (give only 3 best reasons)
- 4 Marks for the use of examples to make the above-mentioned reasons more
convincing
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Lifting Operations
A lifting and erection operation for a project with the following details is going to be
executed.
A 55 feet long pole (5 feet diameter at one side i.e. base and 3 feet diameter on the
other side i.e. top; Gradual decrease in diameter over the entire length of the pole) need
to be installed with 24 equally spaced bolts extending from the concrete foundation. The
concrete foundation is 2 feet above the ground level and height of each bolt is 6 inches
above the concrete foundation.
The installation site is near a busy road which cannot be closed as per the instructions
given by the client. The one side of the road can however be barricaded to manage the
flow of traffic.
Question 10 – Prepare a safe lifting and installation plan for this project keeping in view
the site conditions. 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 3 Marks for the identification of foreseeable risks
- 3 Marks for considering those risks into the lifting plan
- 4 Marks for a practical step by step lifting plan keeping in view the site conditions
Question 11– What control measures will you put in place to avoid toppling of the
crane? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 2 Marks for each effective control measure against the risk of toppling. (Only 5
control measures needed)
Working at Height
A worker was injured when he fell approximately 4.5m through a fragile roof light in a
cement fiber roof. He suffered a fracture of his left wrist and bruising to his left leg. He was
assisting a farm worker to repair the roof. He gained access to the roof via a ladder that
was not secured. The injured worker in the statement mentioned that it was after sunset
and the visibility was very low.
Question 12–How do you think this accident could be prevented by eliminating the
likelihood of the fall hazards? 10 Marks
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Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 5 Marks for the reasons (Hazards) which may result in fall from height
- 5 Marks for the control measures against all those reasons
Question 13– Explain various methods by which a ladder can be secured against the
risk of slip on a smooth hard surface? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 2 Marks against each effective method (5 methods needed)
Accident Case Study
A steam boiler had 2 pressure relief valves installed in parallel configuration to minimize
the risk of explosion. The boiler however exploded but fortunately there was no loss of
lives or injuries to any person. The earlier investigation findings revealed that the
explosion was due to overheating of boiler which shows that pressure relief valves failed
to relieve the extra pressure which resulted in boiler explosion.
Question 14–Why engineering controls are not 100% fail-safe? What could be done to
increase the effectiveness of engineering controls? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 5 Marks for the arguments regarding the failure of engineering controls
- 5 Marks for how the effectiveness of engineering control could be improved
Question 15– What other administrative controls could have been put in place to
eliminate the risk of explosions in case of the failure of engineering controls? 10 Marks
Note: Examiner will mark your responses as follows;
- 10 Marks for a single, effective and practical administrative control which could be
implemented to eliminate the risk of explosion
End of Question Paper
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