Site Safe Foundation Passport: what the Review of Understanding covers

Most people book the course because a site will not let them start without a card. Almost nobody is told what the assessment at the end actually involves, which is why a straightforward check produces more nerves than it should.

What is the Site Safe Review of Understanding?

A short multiple-choice assessment sat at the end of a Foundation Passport course, confirming you have taken in the key concepts. It is a check on understanding rather than an examination designed to fail people, but it is a real assessment, and the content underneath it is the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

What topics does it cover?

What is a PCBU and what are its duties?

A PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking, usually the company rather than an individual. It holds the primary duty of care: to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and of others affected by the work.

The phrase so far as is reasonably practicable is the one to understand properly. It is not a licence to do the cheap thing; it weighs the likelihood and severity of harm, what is known about controlling it, and the cost, with cost only relevant where it is grossly disproportionate to the risk.

What is the hierarchy of controls?

1. Elimination: remove the hazard entirely. Always the first question.
2. Substitution: replace it with something less hazardous.
3. Isolation: separate people from it.
4. Engineering controls: guarding, ventilation, physical barriers.
5. Administrative controls: procedures, training, signage.
6. PPE: last, and never a substitute for the controls above it.

The exam point, and the site point, are the same: PPE is the bottom of the hierarchy. An answer that reaches for a hard hat when the hazard could have been eliminated is the wrong answer.

What counts as a notifiable event?

Under HSWA 2015, notifiable events are deaths, notifiable injuries or illnesses, and notifiable incidents, including certain near misses that exposed someone to serious risk. They must be reported to WorkSafe, and the scene generally must not be disturbed until permitted.

The concept people get wrong is that a near miss can be notifiable. Nothing has to have hit anyone. Worked questions on all of this are here.

How long is a Site Safety Card valid for?

Two years, after which it needs renewing. That two-year cycle is why this is knowledge worth actually retaining rather than holding just long enough to pass.

How should you prepare?

Understand the hierarchy of controls in order, know who holds which duty, and be able to say what makes an event notifiable. Those three carry most of the assessment.