NET Achievement Measurement 2E (AM2E)

Correct: According to OSHA’s Respirable Crystalline Silica standard (29 CFR 1926.1153), employers must establish and implement a written exposure control plan. This plan is the primary document for identifying tasks that involve exposure and the specific engineering controls (such as water delivery systems or vacuum dust collection) and work practices used to limit worker exposure. For an auditor, this document provides the criteria against which the actual site practices should be measured to ensure health hazards are mitigated.

Incorrect: Reviewing insurance certificates focuses on financial risk transfer rather than the physical control of health hazards. Safety Data Sheets (SDS) are required under the Hazard Communication Standard, but for masonry cutting, the primary hazard is the dust generated by the process rather than the chemical composition of the static material. Verifying general safety orientation via sign-in sheets confirms training attendance but does not provide evidence that specific controls for silica dust are being implemented or monitored on-site.

Takeaway: Internal auditors must verify the existence and implementation of a written exposure control plan when construction activities generate respirable crystalline silica to ensure compliance with OSHA health standards.

Correct: According to OSHA 1926.451, scaffolds must be inspected by a competent person before each work shift and after any occurrence which could affect a scaffold’s structural integrity. A competent person is defined as one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. From an internal audit perspective, the lack of documentation for this specific designation represents a control failure in safety oversight.

Incorrect: A licensed professional engineer is typically only required for scaffolds that are over 125 feet in height or involve specific complex designs, which does not apply to this 12-foot structure. While a certified safety professional or a site superintendent with extensive experience may be highly qualified, OSHA specifically mandates the ‘competent person’ designation, which requires both the technical ability to recognize hazards and the specific organizational authority to stop work or correct issues immediately.

Takeaway: OSHA requires that scaffolding be supervised and inspected by a designated competent person who possesses both the expertise to identify hazards and the authority to mitigate them.

Correct: According to OSHA regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, an employer has exactly 15 working days from the receipt of a citation to notify the Area Director in writing that they intend to contest the citation, the proposed penalty, or the abatement date. Working days are defined as Mondays through Fridays, excluding Federal holidays. If the employer fails to file within this specific window, the citation and assessment of penalty become a final order of the Commission and are not subject to review by any court or agency.

Incorrect: The suggestion of 30 calendar days is incorrect because the statutory limit is shorter and specifically measured in working days rather than calendar days. The 10 business day timeframe is an incorrect duration that does not meet the legal requirement of 15 days. Measuring the timeframe from the date of inspection or the date the citation was mailed is incorrect because the legal clock only begins upon the actual receipt of the citation by the employer.

Takeaway: Employers must submit a written Notice of Intent to Contest within 15 working days of receiving a citation to preserve their right to appeal before it becomes a final order.

Correct: Establishing a formal model validation and tuning cycle ensures that the screening system’s performance is consistently evaluated and adjusted. This process allows the bank to identify if the logic is still appropriate for the current risk environment and reduces the noise from false positives, thereby strengthening the overall control environment and ensuring the evaluation process is data-driven.

Correct: According to OSHA standard 1926.50(c), if a hospital, clinic, or infirmary is not in near proximity to the workplace (generally interpreted as within 3 to 4 minutes for serious accidents), the employer must ensure that a person who has a valid certificate in first-aid training is available at the worksite to render aid.

Incorrect: While installing AEDs is a recommended safety practice, it does not satisfy the specific OSHA requirement for a certified first-aid provider when medical facilities are distant. Helicopter transport services are not a standard OSHA requirement for construction sites. Remote triage via radio link does not meet the requirement for an on-site person capable of rendering immediate physical first aid.

Takeaway: When a medical facility is not in close proximity to a construction site, OSHA requires at least one person with a valid first-aid certificate to be available on-site.

Correct: According to OSHA 1926.1424, the employer must protect employees from the hazards of the crane’s rotating superstructure by erecting and maintaining control lines, railings, or similar physical barriers. These barriers are necessary to mark the boundaries of the hazard area and physically prevent employees from entering the swing radius where they could be crushed or struck.

Incorrect: Substituting physical barriers with a signal person is not a compliant alternative for swing radius protection under OSHA standards, as human error can lead to entry into the crush zone. Personal fall arrest systems are irrelevant to the hazard of being struck by a rotating crane superstructure. OSHA standards do not provide an exemption for physical barricading based on the duration of the work shift; the hazard exists regardless of whether the operation is short-term or long-term.

Takeaway: OSHA requires physical barricades to protect workers from the swing radius of a crane’s rotating superstructure to prevent crushing and struck-by injuries.

Correct: According to OSHA 1926.703, formwork must be designed, fabricated, erected, supported, braced, and maintained so that it will be capable of supporting all vertical and lateral loads. A qualified person must design the system, and continuous inspection is necessary because the weight and pressure of plastic concrete can cause shifts or failures in shoring that were not apparent during initial setup.

Incorrect: Increasing slump tests is a quality control measure for the concrete itself but does not address the structural stability of the falsework. Demarcating the area with tape is a safety measure to protect workers from falling objects or collapse, but it does not prevent the collapse from occurring. Relying on general charts is insufficient because site-specific factors like lateral loads, soil stability for sills, and specific bracing requirements must be engineered for the unique conditions of the project.

Takeaway: The stability of formwork and falsework relies on professional design and rigorous, ongoing inspections of all shoring components to manage both vertical and lateral loads.

Correct: According to OSHA construction standards (specifically 1926.1424), the employer must protect employees from being struck or crushed by the crane’s rotating superstructure by erecting and maintaining control lines, warning lines, railings, or similar barriers to mark the boundaries of the hazard area. This physical barrier is the primary defense against unauthorized entry into the swing radius.

Incorrect: Maintaining a 360-degree line of sight is often impossible for operators and does not replace physical barriers. Limiting operations to daylight and using radios are general safety practices but do not address the specific physical hazard of the swing radius. Updating load charts is a critical stability control but does not prevent personnel from entering the crush zone of the rotating superstructure.

Takeaway: The primary safety requirement for crane swing radius protection is the installation of physical barricades to prevent personnel from entering the crush hazard zone.

Correct: In a professional safety environment, the primary goal of observation and feedback is to eliminate hazards and improve safety culture. Providing immediate feedback ensures that at-risk behaviors are corrected before an incident occurs, while data collection allows management to see trends and address systemic issues through training or engineering controls.

Incorrect: Focusing on legal defense documentation rather than coaching fails to prevent accidents and can create a culture of fear. Limiting feedback to positive reinforcement only is negligent when life-safety protocols like fall protection are ignored. Relying on monthly reviews is a reactive approach that misses the critical window for correcting behaviors during active work.

Takeaway: Effective safety observation programs must balance immediate hazard correction with long-term data analysis to drive continuous safety improvement.