Program Management practice questions

Answer: A) Unfreeze, change and refreeze

• ACorrect. It's a classic model.
• BIncorrect. That's part of PDCA.
• CIncorrect. That's part of ADDIE.
• DIncorrect. That's team development.

Answer: A) Hawthorne effect

• ACorrect. It can bias observation results.
• BIncorrect. That's about expectations.
• CIncorrect. That's a rating bias.
• DIncorrect. That's different.

Answer: A) Comply with standards, rules, regulations and orders applicable to their own actions and conduct

Section 5(b) requires employees to comply with OSHA standards, rules, regulations and orders that apply to their own conduct. Employers still hold the Section 5(a) duties, and citations are issued to the employer.

• ACorrect. Under 29 USC 654(b), each employee must comply with OSHA standards and with all rules, regulations and orders issued under the Act that apply to his or her own actions and conduct.
• BIncorrect. This is the employer's duty under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1).
• CIncorrect. Under Section 9(a) (29 USC 658(a)), citations are issued to the employer. Section 5(b) creates an employee duty but does not make employees the target of citations.
• DIncorrect. The employee duty in Section 5(b) is in addition to the employer's duties under Section 5(a). It does not replace them.

Answer: B) Accountable

In RACI, the Accountable person delegates the work, reviews it, and signs off on completion. The Responsible person does the work, Consulted people give feedback, and Informed people receive updates.

• AIncorrect. 'Responsible' is for those who do the work. Here that is the safety coordinator, who writes the procedures and builds the training.
• BCorrect. The Accountable person makes sure activities are completed, delegates them, reviews the team's work, and signs off on completion. That is exactly the plant manager's role here.
• CIncorrect. 'Consulted' is for those who give input or feedback on activities. Here that is the maintenance supervisors who review the drafts.
• DIncorrect. 'Informed' is for those who get progress updates but aren't directly involved. Here that is the production employees.

Answer: A) Have trained peer observers lead the observations, and track and fix the equipment, layout, and procedure problems they find

BBS works best when workers take part in observations and management fixes the system and workplace problems the observations uncover. Punitive use, incentives that discourage reporting, or using BBS in place of engineering controls undermine it.

• ACorrect. BBS depends on workers taking part and on management acting on what the observations reveal. Fixing system causes shows that the program is not about blame and keeps workers engaged.
• BIncorrect. Linking observations to personnel records makes them feel punitive. Trust drops, and workers hide at-risk behavior instead of discussing it.
• CIncorrect. Rewarding low at-risk counts encourages crews to under-report, which ruins the data the program depends on.
• DIncorrect. BBS supplements the hierarchy of controls and does not replace it. Relying on PPE use instead of engineering controls leaves the hazards in place.

Answer: B) A trained internal auditor from another department with no responsibility for the LOTO program

Internal audits should be done by competent people who are independent of the work being audited, so findings stay objective. The person who wrote or carries out a program should not audit it.

• AIncorrect. The coordinator would be auditing their own work: the procedure they wrote and the training they delivered. That undermines objectivity, and internal auditors should be independent of the procedures being audited.
• BCorrect. A competent auditor who is independent of the activity being audited can assess implementation objectively. This matches regulatory safety management system requirements that internal auditors be independent of the procedures they audit.
• CIncorrect. The supervisor is directly responsible for carrying out LOTO in the area being audited. Their findings would lack independence.
• DIncorrect. Self-assessments by the people doing the work can be useful inputs, but they are not an independent audit and are likely to miss systemic weaknesses.

Answer: D) Sets the end date

• AIncorrect. It can't be skipped.
• BIncorrect. It's about duration.
• CIncorrect. It's about duration.
• DCorrect. Any delay on it delays the project.

Answer: A) To show the few cause categories that account for most injuries so prevention resources can be prioritized

A Pareto chart ranks causes from most to least frequent and adds a cumulative-percentage line. This picks out the vital few causes behind most losses so improvement efforts can be targeted.

• ACorrect. A Pareto chart sorts quantified causes from most to least frequent and adds a cumulative-percentage line. This makes the 'vital few' that drive most losses stand out from the 'trivial many'.
• BIncorrect. A Pareto chart summarizes and ranks historical data. It is not a predictive model.
• CIncorrect. Time-based trends are shown with run charts or control charts. A Pareto chart ranks categories and has no time axis.
• DIncorrect. Contributing factors for one event are mapped with tools such as a fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagram or root cause analysis, not a Pareto chart.

Answer: C) Advises line management, which stays accountable

• AIncorrect. Line supervisors stay accountable.
• BIncorrect. That's a line role.
• CCorrect. Line managers own day-to-day safety.
• DIncorrect. Staff roles influence decisions.

Answer: A) Tie the project to business objectives, showing estimated costs, expected savings and return on investment

Safety proposals persuade executives best when they're framed as a business case: costs, savings and return on investment tied to the organization's objectives.

• ACorrect. Executives decide by comparing value with risk. Business case analysis that links safety spending to business objectives and expected financial return is how safety investments get justified to management.
• BIncorrect. Technical detail may support the plan, but executives mainly want to know the business impact. A specification-heavy pitch rarely answers their questions about value.
• CIncorrect. Compliance matters, but counting standards doesn't measure value. It doesn't show costs, savings or how the project supports business goals.
• DIncorrect. What peers spend says nothing about whether this project will pay off for this organization. On its own it isn't a business case.