HSE Professional Interview Questions and Answers-

HSE Professional Interview Questions and Answers-

Definitions of Safety:

➢ Safety is absence of danger of physical harm

➢ It is a condition which gives you freedom from hazards, risk and accident which may cause injury even 

death, damage and loss to property, material, and environment

➢ Safety in composes the system, programs, and practices for the prevention of accidents and incidents.

Health: It refers to the physical and mental condition of all personal at the workplace (employees, 

contractors, and visitors) and their protection from harm in the form of injury or disease.

Welfare: The provision of facilities to maintain the health and well-being of individuals at work.

Incident: An instance of something happening; an event or occurrence. OR (An undesirable event or 

chain of events which cause, or could have caused injury, illness, impact on company’s reputation, 

production, damage (loss) to the assets and/or harm to environment, or third parties)

Accident: An incident which resulted in actual injury or death, financial loss/ or damage to Property, 

Environment, Social Programs, Reputations.

Near Miss: An unplanned, unwanted event that had the potential to lead to some kind of loss; injury to 

people, damage to property or loss of production but did not.

Dangerous Occurrence: Any significant incident arising out of or in the course of work that did not 

result in serious injury/and or fatalities but had the potential to have done so.

ILL Health: A disease or medical condition that is directly attributable to work.

e.g., Dermatitis as a result of exposure to skin irritants.

Hazard: (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Biological, Physical, Ergonomics, Psychological)

➢ Something in the workplace that is not controlled to an acceptable standard & therefore has the 

potential to cause harm to individuals, damage to property, plant, and equipment. (A trailing cable which 

has the potential to cause a trip)

➢ Anything which has the potential to cause harm.

Risk: Risk is the combination of likelihood of occurrence of an undesired event and the potential 

adverse consequences. Risk = (Likelihood × severity) OR

❖ How great the chance that someone will be harmed by the hazard.

Likelihood: The mathematical chances that the hazardous event might occur. OR

❖ Measure of the frequency at which an event might occur.

Severity: The degree to which an agent hazardous to health can cause harm. OR

❖ Measure of the adverse effects of an event.

Unsafe Act: A violation of an accepted safe procedure or practice that could permit the occurrence of an 

incident or may lead to an incident.

Unsafe Condition: A hazardous physical condition or circumstance that could directly permit the 

occurrence of an incident or may lead to an incident.

Competent Person: A person who has Trainings, knowledge, Skills, and experience.

Toolbox Talk (TBT): It is a job specific talk to workers regarding the activity to be done.

Safety Induction: All construction and other industries are very dangerous places some safety 

disciplines should be followed there so everybody must to know all safety rules and regulations before 

entering the site. Safety Personnel gives this talk in which he explains the project description and rules 

and responsibilities to be followed this talk is called safety induction.

Emergency Plan: It is an action plan for the proper response during any major emergency situation like 

fire it should be known all responsible persons

Assembly Point: It is a designated area to accommodate workers safely during emergency situation. All 

emergency exits (escape routes) lead to assembly point.

Safety Audit: It is a systematic, critical, and independent examination of an organization systems &

procedures to determine the extent of compliance with a set of agreed standards.

➢ It is systematic and independent examination of an organization health and safety management system

to collect objective evidence. Audit aims for assessing the effectiveness and reliability of the system. It

suggests the corrective actions to be taken.

Note: The only minor difference between audit and inspection is audit is pre-planned activity while

inspection is not a pre-planned activity otherwise the requirements are same.

Documents likely to be examined during audit:

➢ HSE Policy, Safety monitoring procedure, Risk Assessment methodology procedure, Training records,

Inspection records, Maintenance records & Health surveillance records.

HSE Plan: HSE plan is a formal, systematic, and consistent document of a workplace that is designed /

developed in accordance with the legislative and Client requirements. It describes how to carry out the

job in a safe manner without any harm to PEAR (People, Environment, Asset, Reputation). Infect It is an

important reference document to demonstrate how the HSE Management System would be

implemented for the contracted scope of work.

HSE Plan is prepared at the start of the project and updated accordingly through each phase capturing

all HSE requirements.

1) Abu Dhabi Law No 1 of 1988 Establishing the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC).

2) Federal Law No 24 of 1999 for the Protection and Development of the Environment and subsequently

issued executive regulations.

3) Federal Law No 8 of 1980 Re-regulations of Labor Relations.

4) Law No.21 of 2005 for Waste Management in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi

Aims of HSE Plan: It is aimed to improve the overall management and coordination of Health, Safety

and Environment through the construction various phases to eliminate or reduce the accidents or ill

health and Environmental incidents occurrence.

Contents/Elements of HSE Plan: Typical elements that shall be considered as a minimum when

developing a Contractor HSE Plan for a contract are mentioned below. The extent and description of the

individual elements would depend on the complexity of the contract.

Element 1. Leadership and Commitment

Element 2. Policy and Strategic Objectives

Element 3. Organization, Resources and Competence

Element 4. Risk Evaluation and Management

Element 5. Planning, Standards and Procedures

Element 6. Implementation and Monitoring

Element 7. Audit and

Element 8. Management Review

PROJECT HSE PLAN SHALL INCLUDE

▪ Project description objective and scope

▪ Definitions & abbreviations

▪ Document control

▪ Purpose of this document

▪ Reference and legal requirements

▪ Project HSE policy

▪ Leadership and commitment

▪ Responsibilities and organization - PM, CM, ENGG, HSE and road safety and employee

▪ Hazard/Environmental aspect identification, risk assessment and control

▪ Emergency preparedness and response program

▪ Training program, competence, and awareness

What are the elements and information needed to prepare an HSE plan?

The elements that make up a Health and Safety Plan include:

▪ Contract description

▪ Contract Occupational Health and Safety structure and system

▪ Contract induction and safety training

▪ Safe work practices and procedures

▪ JSA including Formal Risk assessment

▪ Workplace health and safety inspections

▪ Health and safety consultation

▪ Emergency Procedure

▪ Incident recording and investigation

▪ Health and safety performance monitoring.

Legal Requirements: Any set of Federal, State or Local regulations or permits which apply to

operations or activities.

Codes of Practice: There are 54 codes of practice in Abu Dhabi, and it is one of the Mandatory Technical

Requirements. (A set of guidelines & regulations to be followed by members of some profession, trade,

occupation, organization etc. does not normally have the force of law).

1-Hazardous Materials, 11-Safety in Heat, 21-Permit to work, 23-Work at height,

26-Scaffolding, 27-Confined space, 29-Excavation, 37-Ladders are some examples of COPs

Define the Following Key words?

First Aid Case: Any work-related injury or illness that does not involve lost workdays, restricted

workdays, or Medical Treatment Case but which receives First Aid Treatment.

Medical Treatment: Any work-related injury or illness that neither involves lost workdays nor

restricted workdays, but which requires Medical Treatment beyond the first aid by LHCP.

Lost Time Injury: Any absence from the work due to work related fatalities, permanent total

disabilities, Permanent Partial disabilities, and lost workday cases.

Lost Workday Case (LWDC): A work-related injury or illness other than a fatal injury which results in a

person (being unfit for work on any day after the day of occurrence of the occupational injury)

temporarily unable to perform any regular job or restricted work activity on a subsequent scheduled

workday or shift, supported by a medical report from an approved medical practitioner.

Serious Dangerous Occurrence: An unplanned and undesired occurrence which has the potential to

cause serious Injury (may be fatality) which may or may not cause damage to Property, Equipment, or

the Environment.

Restricted workday Case (RWDC): It is work-related Injury or Illness that results in limitations on

work activity that prevents an individual from performing any task of his normal/ routine job or from

doing the entire job for any part of the day.

Permanent Partial Disability (PPD): Any work-related injury or illness which results in the complete

loss or permanent loss of use of any parts of the body or permanent impairment of function or parts of

the body, regardless of any pre-existing disability of the injured member of impaired body function.

Permanent Total Disability (PTD): Any work-related injury or illness which permanently incapacitates

an employee from doing any work and results in termination of employment or medical severance.

Fatality: A death resulting from work related injury or illness, regardless of the intervening time between injury and death.

Occupational Illness: Any abnormal condition or disorder, or any fatality other than one resulting from

an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment.

Occupational illness may be caused by inhalation, absorption, ingestion of, or direct contact with the

hazard, as well as exposure to physical and psychological hazards. It generally occurs due to prolonged or repeated exposures.