LO1 Understand the importance of various physical agents and their effect on worker health, safety, and welfare, and be able to reflect on and apply scientific, technical, and social disciplines which inform the study of physical agents in the workplace.

Assignment 2 (Report) brief:

MSc Safety, Health & Environment / Occupational Hygiene

Aims

a) Explore, evaluate and build on the existing theory and practice associated with physical agents found in the workplace;

b) Introduce and develop an appreciation and understanding of risk that the different types of physical agents can present to workers and other people affected by them;

c) Develop a framework for rational decision making in managing physical agents in the workplace;

d) Develop skills and decision making when presented with harmful physical agents in the workplace.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of the course the student will be able to:

LO1 Understand the importance of various physical agents and their effect on worker health, safety, and welfare, and be able to reflect on and apply scientific, technical, and social disciplines which inform the study of physical agents in the workplace.

LO2 Be able to critically evaluate and appreciate the range of risks arising from exposure to the most commonly encountered physical agents.

LO3 Be able to apply a range of measurement and analysis techniques appropriate for the most commonly encountered physical agents.

LO4 Be able to develop and apply an appropriate control and management strategy for physical agents encountered in the workplace.

Brief

You are the new Health and Safety Manager for a Construction Company. Your Companies Employees work on many sites over the whole Country and have had little Health and Safety Training as part of their Induction to the Company. Employees are exposed to noise on the sites through both their own activities and also from other trades working around them in the same or adjacent areas.

Several employees have been identified as suffering noise induced hearing loss after visiting their own Doctors. The company has not historically carried out any noise measurements nor does it currently provide audiometry for its workforce.

The main method of noise control on site is the provision of ear plugs or ear muffs, although some workers do not wear them as they complain they are uncomfortable. The choice or ear protection is unclear but appears to be what is available locally.

Write a 1800-word management report that critically discusses the noise issues arising and clearly justifies any practical recommendations you may make as a result.

You are free to make any reasonable assumptions that you deem necessary, and these can be cited in an appendix to the report. Your report should include details of any measurements and calculations you would plan to carry out. Reference to appropriate legislation, standards, guidance and where appropriate, published research will also be required. Legislation and standards can relate to your own country or a country of your choice.

General Instruction

You should research a range of reference materials including recent published research relating to the physical agent you are discussing. Journal articles on research can be found through the portal in the e-library using science direct, for guidance on accessing journals and eBooks online please refer to the accessing electronic resources guide on Moodle.

The work is to be word-processed, double or 1.5-line spacing Arial or Calibri, 12 Font, aligned to the left hand of the page and appropriately referenced using the Harvard system of referencing. It should be presented in the form of an essay and the length must be with 10% of the 1800-word limit, excluding appendices, bibliography, etc. A word count must be included.

All assignments must be submitted electronically using the Turnitin plagiarism service through Moodle (even where a hard copy is required by your local centre). In the correct Moodle course, click on the Assignment folder; Assignment Submission; identify and click the correct assignment link and then follow the instructions.

Assignments will not be marked unless they are submitted electronically.

Assessment

This coursework accounts for 60% of the course marks. The pass mark is 50%. The final grade for the course is an aggregate of the grades achieved for assignment 1 and 2. It is not necessary therefore to pass both assignments to pass the course overall. It will be assessed on the basis of:

Feedback

Written feedback is provided on Moodle along with your grade breakdown. Please ensure you pay close attention to your feedback and email your course tutor should you require any further clarification on the points raised.

Submission

This assignment will normally be submitted 12 weeks after the study school but check online in Moodle or with your Centre for exact dates.

Work submitted late will not be marked unless a formal extension of time has been granted. Please contact your course tutor if you cannot make the submission date.

Plagiarism and Copying

It is not acceptable to copy other student’s coursework or material directly from your sources of information. This is plagiarism. If you copy any material, it will be highlighted by the Turnitin system that is used for on-line submissions. The copied content will not be marked, and you may be referred to the Plagiarism Panel and will be awarded a zero mark. Your final mark transcript will also show that you have been penalised for submitting plagiarised material.

We will ignore small matches associated with common phrases and terms and will ignore matches highlighted in your reference list when considering whether or not your work is plagiarised.

As a general rule you should aim to get your similarity index into the “green” zone on Turnitin. If you are in the “amber” zone you will need to look very carefully at your work to see what you can put into your own words to reduce your score. High amber scores may be referred to the plagiarism panel and will certainly mean that a significant part of your work will not be considered in the marking. If you are in the “red” zone you will be referred to the plagiarism panel.

We strongly advise you to submit a final draft through Turnitin well before the cut-off date to check your similarity index. Please remember that you are only allowed to submit one draft version of your coursework every day so leave yourself plenty of time to revise and resubmit your final version of the coursework