Institute for Safety and Health Management

Sample Examination Questions

The examination consists of 150 multiple-choice questions covering four major topic areas, as follows:

I. General and Business Management (30 questions/20%)
II. Management Methods (43 questions/29%)
III. Safety, Health, and Environment Applications (46 questions/30%)
IV. Risk Management Control (31 questions 21%)

Recommended texts for study:

Accident Prevention Manual: Administration and Programs, NSC Pub.
Accident Prevention Manual: Engineering and Technology, NSC Pub.
The Deming Management Method, Mary Walton, Perigee Pub.
Ergonomics, Work and Health, Stephen Pheasant, Aspen Pub.
Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene, Barbara A. Plog, Patricia J. Quinlan, NSC Pub.
Introduction to Environmental Technology, Ann Boyce, Wiley Pub.
Making Instruction Work Robert F. Mager, CEP Press Pub.
Managing for Performance Perfection by William C. Pope, Bonnie Brae Pub.
Motor Fleet Safety Manual John E. Brodbeck, NSC Pub.
Muskuloskeletal Disorders and Workplace Factors NIOSH, 2nd Ed. (PDF File)
On the Practice of Safety, Fred A. Manuele, John Wiley ASSE Pub.
Practical Loss Control Leadership, Frank E. Bird, George L. Germain, ILCI Pub.
Primer on Occupational Safety and Health, Frederick Blosser, BNS Books
Safety and Health for Engineers, Roger L. Brauer, Van Nostrand Pub.
Safety and Health Management Planning, Ted S. Ferry, Van Nostrand Pub.
Safety Management : A Human Approach, Dan Petersen, ASSE Pub.
Techniques of Safety Management : A Systems Approach, Dan Petersen, ASSE Pub.
Total Quality Safety Management and Auditing, Michael B. Weinstein, Lewis Pub.

Exam Preparation Assistance

Currently, the following providers offer study materials for CSHM exam preparation.
National Safety Management Society
OSHAcademy

I. General and Business Management

A. Finance

1. A $2,000 investment is worth $3,255 after three years. What is the average annual interest earned on this investment?

a. 18.5%
b. 20.9%
c. 30.5%
d. 42.4%

2. Variable costs...(complete the sentence)

a. increase or decrease in increments or lump sums.
b. are based on relationships that can be expressed as straight lines.
c. remain unchanged in total amount over a wide range of production levels.
d. change in total amount as production volume changes.

B. Cost Accounting

1. Which of the following is not a responsibility of a company labor/management safety committee?

a. Assist management in enforcing safety policies and rules
b. Analyze safety management system programs for adequacy
c. Evaluate employer safety accountability systems
d. Assist management in training new employees in safety responsibilities

2. Which of the following are considered direct accident costs?

a. Overtime pay.
b. Increased workers compensation premiums for replacement workers
c. Repair costs for damaged equipment
d. Medical treatment costs

3. All of the following are true concerning the design-in-safety approach?

a. Zero risk does not exist
b. Zero risk is always the goal
c. Depend on the employee to take corrective action
d. One fits all machine guarding

C. Employee Relations/HR

1. Goals may be thought of as nothing more than a wish: ____________ are observable, measurable, and include a stated time limit?

a. operational objectives
b. task goals
c. safety policies
d. official goals

2. This leadership approach is demonstrated when a manager shows concern for the status and well-being of subordinates.

a. Participative
b. Contingency
c. Achievement-Oriented
d. Supportive

3. A supervisor might do which of the following to overcome a lack of worker motivation:

a. Transfer the worker
b. Discipline the worker for poor performance
c. Recognize and reward the worker's performance
d. Ignore the worker performance

D. Ethics and Law

1. An attorney attempts to contract with you, a CSHM, to perform as an expert witness for 3% of the case fee. You should:

a. Decline the offer
b. Accept the offer
c. Request 5% of the case fee
d. Provisionally accept the offer

2. The primary responsibility for safety in the workplace rests with:

a. the employee
b. the employer
c. the safety committee
d. the safety director

3. Inherently high-hazard industries with excellent safety performance may be best explained by which of the following:

a. Inaccurate safety recordkeeping
b. Employees believe that job security depends on using safe procedures and practices
c. Employees believe that job security depends on working most efficiently
d. The safety director continually inspects facilities

E. Organization Structure

1. According to Dan Petersen, these employees are the various specialty people who have a function of assisting the setting policy and influencing first-line supervisors.

a. staff people
b. top level managers
c. middle level managers
d. safety supervisors

2. The safety director may report to which of the following:

a. production manager
b. human resource manager
c. plant superintendent
d. any of the above

3. All of the following are basic design features of organizational structure, EXCEPT:

a. Span of control
b. Job realization
c. Centralization
d. Job specialization

F. Training and Development

1. According to contemporary motivation theory, discretionary behaviors may most effectively reinforced by:

a. employing positive reinforcement
b. negative reinforcement
c. withholding reinforcement
d. frequent reinforcement

2. A major requirement for effective safety training is:

a. a proper training location
b. high quality audio-visual aids
c. adequately staffed training section
d. a culture of effective consequences

3. Safety re-training may be used effectively as a disciplinary action.

a. True
b. False

II. Management Methods

A. TQM Principles

1. According to W. Edwards Deming, total quality management will not succeed unless:

a. fear is replaced with trust
b. 100% inspection of the final product
c. management reclassifies special cause as common cause
d. all managers reach consensus on elements

2. A bedrock principle in total quality management is that the first responsibility of management is to:

a. lead, organize, communicate, and control
b. realize short term gains
c. maximize profits by reducing costs
d. stay in business and create jobs

3. Which of the following describes the Deming-Shewhart PDSA cycle?

a. Produce, detail, satisfy, action
b. Plan, Do, Study, Act
c. Participate, devalue, situate, align
d. Perform, develop, study, articulate

B. Systems Safety

1. Those system components whose errors can result in a potential hazard, or loss of predictability or control of a system are called:

a. Safety-critical components
b. System critical components
c. Hazard-critical components
d. Hazard-limited components

2. A basic principle of systems safety is that the cost of changes __________ with the stage of development.

a. remain constant
b. decrease
c. vary
d. increase

3. To learn the basics of system safety management procedures, reference:

a. OAR 437 Div 1
b. MIL-STD-882B
c. 29 CFR 1910.1200
d. 60 CFR 2400.12

C. Auditing

1. The primary purpose of an audit is to:

a. challenge existing policies, procedures and practices
b. use insiders to evaluate management
c. identify flaws in an organization's safety performance
d. determine liability for failures in implementing policy

2. Which of the following is not part of the audit construction process.

a. Define the safety system elements
b. Define the relative importance of the elements
c. Define the questions to find out what is happening
d. Define acceptable outcome levels

3. Which of the following is true about the audit:

a. If it works in one facility, it will work in all of them
b. The audit must be tested against reality
c. Packaged audits are most successful in the public sector
d. All audits show positive correlation between audit scores and performance

D. Data Analysis and Applied Statistics

1. Calculate the incident rate of a company that recorded 30 accidents and total work hours are 1,500,000:

a. 4.0
b.5.2
c. 7.6
d. 8.0

2. Upper and Lower Control Limits (UCL, LCL) are determined when using a:

a. Scatter Diagram
b. Histogram
c. Fishbone Diagram
d. Control Chart

3. The Fishbone Diagram is also referred to as a:

a. Histogram
b. Cause and Effect Diagram
c. Control Chart
d. Pareto Chart

E. Safety in Design

1. This fail-safe design mode maintains an energized condition that keeps the system in a safe operating mode until corrective action occurs:

a. Fail-active design
b. Fail-passive design
c. Fail-operational design
d. Fail-detection design

2. Which of the following hazard control steps has the highest priority?

a. Guard the hazard
b. Substitute with a less/non hazard
c. Educate employees to avoid the hazard
d. Manage the exposure

F. Benchmarking

1. Benchmarking looks at methods in all of the following, EXCEPT:

a. Internally among individuals
b. Internally among divisions
c. Within the industry
d. Outside the industry - “out-of-box”

2. Two key Components of benchmarking include ________ and ________:

a. removing barriers, creating change
b. gathering data, identifying best performers
c. evaluating behaviors, creating incentives
d. managing change, securing compliance

G. Behavioral Safety Processes

1. Those consequences that are successful in motivating discretionary behaviors are referred to as:

a. Negative reinforcement
b. Positive reinforcement
c. Extinction
d. Punishment

2. All of the following are categorized by Maslow as security needs, EXCEPT:

a. Comfort
b. Hunger
c. Safety
d. Protection

3. Katz and Stotland identify three attitude components. Which of the following is not one of these components?

a. Affective components
b. Historical components
c. Cognitive components
d. Action components

H. Root Cause Analysis

1. The employer conducts accident investigations primarily to:

a. determine employee liability
b. prevent future accidents
c. comply with OSHA rule requirements
d. fix the blame

2. Each of the following is considered a root cause for an accident, EXCEPT:

a. Inadequate safety training plan
b. An employee does not use full lockout/tagout procedures
c. Safety rules are not being enforced
d. Incentives for withholding injury reports

3. Root cause analysis is most effectively conducted by the:

a. the victim's supervisor
b. the safety committee chairperson and/or members
c. the company owner or agency heads
d. person qualified to evaluate the safety management system

I. Safety Management and Theory

1. An assembly line worker with five years experience has been promoted to supervisor. The employee has received no management training and is failing to perform duties satisfactorily. This situation is an example of:

a. Pareto's Law
b. Heinrich Principle
c. Peter Principle
d. Pope's Law

2. The "three E's" of effective safety management refer to:

a. Engineering, Equality, Education
b. Engineering, Education and Enforcement
c. Equality, Engineering and Enforcement
d. Enlightenment, Equality, Enforcement

3. The safety management professional performs the role of:

a. safety supervisor
b. safety cop
c. safety coach
d. safety consultant

III. Safety, Health and Environment Applications

A. Compliance Management

1. OSHA law allows states to administer their own safety and health rules as long as:

a. the state reports all activities annually
b. state OSHA rules are more protective then federal rules
c. state OSHA rules are identical or as effective as federal rules
d. state OSHA agency structure mirrors the federal agency

2. The OSHA Act of 1970 is also referred to as the:

a. Nixon-Johnson Act
b. Williams-Steiger Act
c. Occupational Safety Act
d. Freedom from Risk Act

3. A "Catastrophe" is defined in OSHA rules as:

a. five or more fatalities
b. one fatality or five serious injuries
c. three or more fatalities, five or more serious injuries
d. two or more fatalities, three or more serious injuries

B. Environment

1. The Superfund Act is also known as the:

a. OSHA
b. RCRA
c. CERCLA
d. NIOSH

2. Granite and basalt are referred to as _________ rock:

a. sedimentary
b. igneous
c. metamorphic
d. kertaneous

3. Unsafe environmental conditions include all of the following, EXCEPT:

a. High humidity
b. Poor ventilation
c. Clutter on stairway
d. Disciplinary records

C. Ergonomics

1. Wrapping the thumb and all fingers around the handle of a tool is referred to as a:

a. Pistol grip
b. Precision grip
c. Power grip
d. Relaxed grip

2. The highest number of work-related MSDs reported to OSHA involve the:

a. hands
b. back
c. feet
d. legs

3. Which of the following jobs is most likely to result in back injury?

a. Painter
b. Crane operator
c. Sheet rock installer
d. Truck driver

D. Toxicology

1. Exposure to silica dust is most likely to result in:

a. Pneumonia
b. Leukemia
c. Emphysema
d. Throat cancer

2. Toxicology is the study of:

a. Chemicals and their characteristics
b. Poisons and their effects
c. Diseases and how they're spread
d. Gases and how they are dispersed

3. The ________ is the amount of chemical that enters and reacts with body systems to cause harm:

a. TLV
b. PEL
c. Exposure
d. Dose

E. Epidemiology

1. The sudden loss of consciousness associated with a transient disorganization of circulatory function is defined as:

a. Hypertropia
b. Toxic reaction
c. Syncope
d. Hypoxia

2. After January 2002, all recordable work-related injuries and illnesses must be entered on:

a. OSHA 200 Log
b. OSHA 300 Log
c. OSHA 400 Log
d. OSHA 500 Log

3. The process by which a pathogen passes from a source of infection to a new host is called:

a. Movement
b. Reassignment
c. Adoption
d. Transmission

F. Industrial Hygiene

1. Occupational health programs should provide all of the following

a. Hypertropia
b. Toxic reaction
c. Syncope
d. Hypoxia

2. This chemical is one of the most common chemicals in used as a preservative in medical laboratories and as an embalming agent in mortuaries is generally known:

a. Toluene
b. Formaldehyde
c. Acrylamide
d. Methyl Ethyl Ketone

3. Compute the TWA for the following measurements:

8:00 am - 9:00 am @600 ppm
9:00 am - 11:00 am @400 ppm
11:00 am - 4:00 pm @100 ppm

a. 550 ppm
b. 400 ppm
c. 330 ppm
d. 237 ppm

G. Construction

1. According to OSHA law, on a multi-employer worksite, the primary responsibility for safety rests with the:

a. Subcontractor
b. Safety manager
c. Host employer
d. Each employee

2. In the construction industry in the U.S., this event represents the leading cause of worker fatalities. Each year, on average, between 150 and 200 workers are killed and more than 100,000 are injured as a result of __________ accidents:

a. Struck-by
b. Fall-from-elevation
c. Caught-on
d. Contact-with

3. On a construction site, this class of helmet is LEAST effective:

a. Class A
b. Class B
c. Class C
d. Class D

IV. Risk Management Control

A. Workers' Compensation

Recommended Text: Safety and Health for Engineers, Roger L. Brauer

1. This rating applies to all SIC codes within an industry:

a. modification Rate
b. Experience Rate
c. Manual Rate
d. Industry Rate

2. This principle of tort law states that if a person voluntarily assumes a risk and is injured as a result, he cannot be indemnified for the losses:

a. Contributory Negligence
b. Assumption of Risk
c. Fellow Servant Rule
d. Common Law Defense

3. The two types of workers' compensation law are:

a. Criminal and Civil
b. Statutory and Administrative
c. Compulsory and Elective
d. Employer and Employee

B. Risk Management

1. Action taken to control or reduce risk is called:

a. Risk modification
b. Loss reduction
c. Risk aversion
d. Loss control

2. Risk management includes all of the following processes, EXCEPT:

a. Risk identification
b. Risk reaction
c. Risk analysis
d. Risk financing

3. Which of the following is NOT an objective of preloss risk management?

a. Minimizing economic expenditures
b. Reducing anxiety
c. Resuming normal operations
d. Satisfying regulatory obligations

C. General Liability/Product Safety

1. In most states, three theories of liability apply to product safety. Which of the following is not one of those theories?

a. Warranty
b. Negligence
c. Strict Liability
d. Due Diligence

2. Under strict liability, the plaintiff must present three fundamental elements of evidence, EXCEPT:

a. The product was defective
b. The defect defective when acquired by the plaintiff
c. The defect existed when it left the defendant's hands
d. The defect caused injury or harm and was proximate to the injury

3. There are many factors in design from which defects may result. One of these factors is:

a. Operating instructions
b. Cost of materials
c. Management of energy
d. Appearance

D. Fleet Safety

1. According to Dan Petersen, the most important control activity in fleet safety is:

a. Keeping accurate records
b. Writing effective policy
c. Maintaining vehicles
d. Selecting drivers

2. Determine the fleet accident frequency rate for a company that has logged 1,750,000 miles and recorded 3 accidents over the last six months:

a. .84
b. 1.72
c. 4.63
d. 5.85

3. Vehicle failure can best be reduced through:

a. Driver selection procedures
b. Initial and annual driver training
c. Effective preventive maintenance program
d. Annual review of maintenance records

E. Fire and Life Safety

1. Which one of the following is not a component of the fire triangle?

a. Source of fuel
b. Source of oxygen
c. Source of heat
d. Source of mixture

2. This rating indicates how long an assembly or component will withstand a particular test fire.

a. Component Survival Rating
b. Fire Resistance Rating
c. Flammability Rating
d. Fire Confinement Rating

3. Before using equipment capable of igniting combustible materials can be used outside their normal work area, many industrial firms require:

a. A Confined Space Permit
b. A review of work procedures
c. A Hot Work Permit
d. An Employee evacuation

F. Health and Wellness

1. One of the major findings of the "Metals Study" was:

a. There is no relationship between the metals used in production and illness
b. A positive correlation exists between worker expectation and production
c. Changes in workers' compensation law results in changes in the number of injuries reported
d. Reported injuries increased following increases of workers' compensation over inflation

2. Stressors may be classified into any of the following classes, EXCEPT:

a. Psychosocial causes
b. Financial causes
c. Bioecological causes
d. Personality causes

3. This program is one of the most effective strategies for reducing the costs associated with a lack of wellness in the workplace:

a. Disciplinary Program
b. Employee Assistance Program
c. Safety Bingo
d. Employee Education and Training

G. Security

1. Managers have a responsibility for adequate parking lot security. All of the following are appropriate security actions, EXCEPT:

a. Provide an escort for female employees
b. Have keys in hand, ready to unlock the car
c. Know escape routes
d. Throw any bags or objects you're carrying to help escape

2. Following a security evaluation of the workplace, a debriefing should be held. The debriefing should be attended by:

a. HR Manager
b. Risk Manager
c. General Counsel
d. All of the above

3. The first step toward developing good workplace security is:

a. knowing how to assess the likely risks to your specific organization
b. coordinating security events with local authorities
c. conducting post-event analysis to improve security measures
d. training all employees on security measures employed

H. Disaster Recovery/Emergency Preparedness

1. This act requires companies that store, use, emit or move hazardous substances in a community to make details about those substances available to local authorities:

a. Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
b. Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct)
c. National Safety Transportation Act (NSTA)
d. Hazardous Materials Notification Act of 1986 (HMNA)

2. In developing an emergency action plan, the employer should do all of the following, EXCEPT:

a. Identify and evaluate potential disasters
b. Ensure communication with local government is kept to minimum
c. Assess the potential for harm to people, property, environment
d. Estimate warning time

3. The Chain of Command established for emergency plans should be:

a. Structured to be wide but not deep
b. Kept as short as possible
c. Structured to be deep but not wide
d. As informal as possible

I. Workplace Violence

1. All of the following are factors which may increase a worker's risk for workplace assault, as identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), EXCEPT:

a. Contact with the public
b. Exchange of money
c. Working with large number of employees
d. Working late at night or during early morning hours

2. OSHA does not have a specific standard for workplace violence. However, the extent of an employer's obligation to address workplace violence is governed by the:

a. Local statutes
b. General Duty Clause.
c. Best business practices
d. ANSI standards

3. Which of the following types of assistance can be incorporated into the workplace violence prevention program post-incident response?

a. Trauma-crisis counseling;
b. Critical incident stress debriefing
c. Employee assistance programs
d. All of the above

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