Taking the Nebosh IGC in Occupational Health and Safety from an ESL PerspectiveROWAN E WAGNER

LANGUAGE SERVICES DIRECT

Overview

Focus General Tips Exam Terminology Outlining Strategies Language Use Questions

Focus

The purpose of this workshop is to provide some practical test taking advice for the general Nebosh International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety by people who use English in their workplace as a second language.

The examples used are illustrations on the process of answering questions and do not constitute real exam answers.

Disclaimer: The presenter nor the organization are linked in any manner to Nebosh. The materials presented represents good practices and not official answers to Nebosh exam material.

General Tips

READ the question completely BEFORE answering the question (including the number of marks assigned) – this is the most common error in test taking which causes either a loss of points for an answer not directly relating to the question or an answer that doesn’t not address all parts of the question.

Write as clearly as possible – marks cannot be given to answers that can’t be read clearly. Start a new answer on a fresh copy sheet.

General Tips continued

Bring a watch or small clock so you can be aware of the time. The goal in this exam is to try to answer all the questions in order to get the most marks, so you must pace yourself

the less the marks given for a question, the less the detail and the less the time that should be spent and visa versa for questions with a large number assigned.

Exam Terminology

In order to answer a question correctly, it is important to understand what the question is asking you to do.

Here are six standard academic exam terms found in the exam.

- Define

- Describe

- Explain

- Give (example, reason, etc…)

- Outline

- State

Exam Terminology Exercise

Task 1 - match the definitions on the left with the terms given on the right.

Task 2 - write out a complete question using the defined exam term at the beginning of the question.

Answer Organising Strategies

In order to be able to use your time efficiently within the time constraints of the period given for the exam, having a good strategy to organise you answer is import.

By understanding and breaking down the proposed answer into a structure you can quickly organise your thoughts and response.

There are normally three type of strategies for the most common required response

- listing

- short or simple answer

- detailed or complex answer

Answer Organising Strategies Listing Examples

List the types of certified experts to cover the risks in an organisation. (4 marks)

(order not important)

A. A safety professional

B. An occupational hygienist

C. An occupational physician

D. A work or organisation specialist

List workplace hazards from most common to least common (3 marks)

(order important)

1. Physical

2. Biological and chemical

3. Psychosocial

Answer Organising StrategiesShort Answer Example

Describe hazard and risk. (4 marks)

I. A hazard is something that has the inherent ability to cause harm. It can be animal , mineral or nonmaterial (ex. Poisonous plant, radium, or psychological or physical threating behavior). And is often quantitative in nature; ranging from slightly to highly hazardous.

II. Whereas a risk is the possibility of exposure to a hazard, and is often measured as the severity of hazards multiplied by the probability of exposure. Note the good use of complete sentences, use of

paragraphing and transition word (this will be further elaborating in the section dealing with language use).

Answer Organising StrategiesDetailed Answer Example

Safety Sam has just taken on a new position at Hazard House Industries (HHI). What explanations could he use to the top management to increase the resources for improving safety at HHI? (18 marks)

I. Introduction: There are normally three reasons…..

II. Body – economic reason + contextual example

III. Body – social reason + contextual example

IV. Body – moral reason + contextual example

V. Conclusion – brief summary of material presented in the body

Language Use

Along with clarity of writing goes clarity of language use. To ensure that you receive the most marks possible by making your answers understandable try to: Use correct grammar structure in writing your

sentences, Use the accepted industrial terminology Use complete sentences where ever possible Write out terms rather than use acronyms Use paragraphing and transitions on more detailed

answers

Language Use ExercisesTasks 1-3

Task1 – answer the questions using the grammar prompts provided in the brackets.

Task 2 – match the acronyms to their proper word phrase that would be used in an occupational health and safety context

Task 3 - write in the underlined blank provided, the appropriate transition from the terms found in the box above

Language Use ExercisesTasks 4

Task 4 – you have 20 minutes to provide a 120-150 word answer to the question provided. Remember to use complete sentences, spell out acronyms and use the appropriate grammar and transitions.

Questions

Bibliography

Blake, G. and Bly, R. (1993) The Elements of Technical Writing

Nebosh (2013) Syllabus summary – International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety

Sokolik, M. (2013) Principles of Written English Thomson, A. and Martinet, A. (1986) A Practical

English Grammar 4th Ed.