Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)

Correct: The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities, and personnel to ensure employees receive immediate attention if injured or taken ill. Determining what is ‘adequate and appropriate’ is based on a risk assessment that evaluates the specific hazards of the site, the nature of the work (such as high-risk activities), and the size of the workforce.

Incorrect: While the proximity of emergency services is a factor to consider during a risk assessment, it does not replace the employer’s duty to provide on-site first aid. The HSE provides general guidance and regulations, but they do not issue site-specific regional recommendations for every project. Historical injury rates may inform a risk assessment, but the primary regulatory driver is the current risk profile and headcount of the site.

Takeaway: First-aid provision must be determined by a site-specific risk assessment that accounts for the nature of the hazards and the number of people at risk.

Correct: Under the Work at Height Regulations, any equipment or platform used for work at height where a person could fall 2 metres or more must be inspected by a competent person at least every seven days. Furthermore, an inspection is required following any event that might have affected the stability or safety of the edge protection, such as high winds or accidental damage, to ensure it remains a reliable control measure.

Incorrect: While daily checks are considered good site practice, they are not the specific statutory minimum for formal documented inspections. A 14-day interval is insufficient as it exceeds the legal maximum of seven days. Limiting inspections to the initial installation or relocation fails to account for environmental degradation, vibration, or unauthorized modifications that can occur during a long-term project.

Takeaway: Edge protection for falls of 2 metres or more must be formally inspected by a competent person at least every seven days and after any event that might affect its stability.

Correct: The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (Schedule 2) mandate that for construction work, the top guardrail must be at least 950mm above the level of the working platform to prevent falls. This standard ensures that the center of gravity of most workers is below the rail height, significantly reducing the risk of accidental falls over the edge.

Correct: Fall arrest systems are designed to stop a fall in progress rather than prevent it. Because an operative will be left suspended in a harness after the fall is arrested, they are at immediate risk of suspension trauma (orthostatic intolerance), which can be fatal. A site-specific rescue plan is a mandatory requirement under the Work at Height Regulations to ensure the operative is recovered safely and quickly.

Incorrect: Positioning an anchor point at waist height is dangerous as it increases the free-fall distance and the resulting impact forces on the body; anchor points should be as high as possible. Allowing operatives to choose their own lanyard lengths without a formal risk assessment ignores the technical calculation required for ‘fall clearance.’ Prioritizing fall arrest over fall restraint contradicts the hierarchy of control, which dictates that preventing a fall (restraint) is always preferable to arresting one.

Takeaway: A fall arrest system is only complete when it includes a viable, practiced rescue plan to mitigate the life-threatening risks of suspension trauma.

Correct: In construction environments where standard communication methods like mobile phones are unreliable, such as basements or reinforced structures, the employer must provide a dedicated and reliable communication system. Two-way radios or hardwired intercoms ensure that an alarm can be raised immediately in the event of an accident or fire, which is a critical component of emergency procedures and safe systems of work.

Incorrect: Relying on a buddy system to relay verbal messages is insufficient as it introduces significant delays in an emergency and leaves the worker at the entrance potentially vulnerable. Signal repeaters for personal phones are often unreliable in construction settings and do not provide a dedicated, interference-free channel for safety. Increasing supervisor visits is a monitoring control but does not provide the immediate communication capability required during a sudden emergency event.

Takeaway: Emergency communication systems must be reliable, tested for the specific site environment, and independent of public network availability to ensure immediate response.

Correct: For boom-type MEWPs (such as cherry pickers), the primary risk is the ‘catapult effect,’ where the operator can be ejected from the basket if the platform hits an obstruction or moves over uneven ground. A full-body harness with a short restraint lanyard is the industry standard (IPAF H1) because it prevents the operator from being thrown out of the basket in the first place.

Incorrect: Waist belts are prohibited for fall protection as they can cause severe internal injuries during a fall. Fall-arrest lanyards and inertia reels (SRLs) are generally not recommended for boom-type MEWPs because they may allow enough movement for the operator to be ejected before the device engages, potentially causing the machine to tip or the operator to strike the structure. While guardrails are collective protection, they are insufficient for boom-type platforms due to the specific risk of ejection.

Takeaway: Operators of boom-type MEWPs must always wear a full-body harness with a short restraint lanyard to prevent ejection from the platform.

Correct: In portfolio management, issues that significantly impact strategic objectives, risk appetite, or resource allocation across the entire portfolio must be escalated to the Portfolio Governance Board. The Portfolio Manager’s role is to provide the board with a comprehensive analysis, including the impact on strategic alignment and various what-if scenarios, enabling the board to make an informed decision based on the organization’s overall strategy and risk tolerance. This ensures that the response to the issue is aligned with the executive vision and that the portfolio remains within the authorized risk boundaries.

Incorrect: Implementing budget reallocations unilaterally fails to respect the established governance structure and may violate the organization’s risk appetite, which is set at a higher level than the portfolio manager. Conducting a re-prioritization exercise and updating the roadmap without board approval ignores the fact that major strategic shifts require executive-level buy-in and formal governance oversight. Requesting the Portfolio Management Office to change the risk appetite is incorrect because the PMO supports the governance process but does not have the authority to redefine the organization’s strategic risk thresholds or ROI targets.

Takeaway: Significant portfolio issues impacting strategic alignment must be escalated to the Portfolio Governance Board with a detailed impact analysis and recommended trade-offs to ensure executive alignment.

Correct: Installing physical barriers such as fans, debris netting, and toe-boards provides collective protection. According to the hierarchy of risk control, measures that prevent the fall of materials at the source or provide collective protection to everyone in the vicinity are prioritized over administrative controls or personal protective equipment. This approach physically mitigates the risk before it can impact the public or workers below.

Incorrect: Mandating tool lanyards is an effective administrative and individual control, but it is lower in the hierarchy than collective physical barriers. Deploying safety marshals is an administrative control that relies on human intervention and does not physically stop a falling object. Requiring PPE for pedestrians is the least effective measure in the hierarchy, as it does not prevent the incident and is often impractical and legally insufficient as a primary control measure in public spaces.

Takeaway: The hierarchy of control requires that collective physical measures to prevent or catch falling objects at the source must take precedence over administrative controls and personal protective equipment.

Correct: In a dynamic construction environment, the physical layout changes daily as new structures are built and materials are moved. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and CDM regulations, the most critical element is ensuring that escape routes remain available, unobstructed, and clearly signed. Regular reviews are necessary because a route that was safe one week may be blocked by new works or plant equipment the next.

Incorrect: Advanced detection systems are beneficial but do not facilitate the physical exit if routes are blocked. Having independent evacuation strategies for every subcontractor creates confusion and lacks the coordination required for a safe site-wide exit. Restricting fire wardens to senior management is ineffective because wardens need to be present in all work areas to guide staff immediately, regardless of their rank in the company hierarchy.

Takeaway: Emergency evacuation plans on construction sites must be dynamic and coordinated to account for the constantly evolving physical environment and site layout.

Correct: Effective rescue plans require more than just documentation; they must be practical and tested. Under health and safety legislation and CDM regulations, the contractor must ensure that the necessary equipment is immediately available and that the rescue team is competent. Regular drills are essential to identify flaws in the plan and ensure that personnel can act instinctively and effectively during a real emergency.

Incorrect: Relying solely on emergency services is insufficient because their response time may exceed the critical window for life-saving interventions, such as in cases of oxygen deficiency or suspension trauma. Simply having workers sign a document during induction does not provide the physical skills or coordination required for a complex rescue. Appointing a single manager creates a single point of failure and ignores the necessity of a coordinated team response and specialized equipment maintenance.

Takeaway: A rescue plan is only effective if it is supported by specialized equipment and validated through regular practical drills by competent personnel.