Physical safety — the four hazards
Physical safety means keeping people free from physical injury while using or near IT equipment — harm to a person, not damage to the equipment, and not the gradual health problems of prolonged use (section 5.2). The 0417 syllabus names four physical-safety hazards: electrocution, fire, tripping, and heavy equipment falling on someone. Every answer should name the specific hazard, its cause, and a prevention strategy that removes that exact cause.
Electrocution and fire
Electrocution — an electric shock. Causes: a spilled drink causing a short circuit, or touching a bare, damaged or live cable. Prevent by keeping liquids away, replacing damaged cables, avoiding wet hands, fitting a residual current device (RCD) and using a qualified electrician. Fire — from overloading a socket, or equipment overheating (blocked vents). Prevent by not overloading sockets, using a circuit breaker, and keeping vents clear and an extinguisher nearby.
Tripping and falling equipment
Tripping — trailing cables left across a floor or walkway that a person can trip over. Prevent by routing cables around the room edges, securing them in cable ducts, covers or ties, and using wireless devices. Heavy equipment falling — a monitor, printer or overhead projector on a stand, shelf or mount that is not strong, stable or securely fixed can fall and injure someone below. Prevent with strong, stable stands or desks and securely anchored mounts.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Physical safety ≠ health (prolonged use)
Physical-safety hazards (electrocution, fire, tripping, falling equipment) are sudden, one-off dangers from the environment. Health problems — eye strain, RSI, back and neck pain (section 5.2) — build up gradually from prolonged, repeated use. Answering a physical-safety question with "eye strain from looking at the screen too long" answers the wrong syllabus point.
Physical safety ≠ equipment damage
Asked about a spilled drink, a candidate who writes "the computer could be damaged" has answered a different question. Physical safety is about harm to a person — the spill could cause a short circuit and give an electric shock. Always ask "what could happen to a person?" and name an injury (shock, burn, fall, being hit by falling equipment), not a fault in the equipment.
Some thought "safety" meant damage to the equipment rather than harm to the user: s23 P11 Q5.
Overloaded socket = fire, not electrocution
Plugging too many devices into one socket or multi-plug adaptor is a fire hazard: it draws more current than the wiring can safely carry, so the wiring overheats and can catch fire. Candidates often mislabel this as electrocution. Electrocution comes from spills or damaged/live cables giving a shock; overloading is about heat and fire. Match the hazard to its actual cause.
Name a specific cause, not "electricity"
A hazard needs a specific named cause, not a vague statement. "Electricity is dangerous" scores nothing — the mark scheme wants the exact cause: a spilled drink or damaged cable (electrocution), an overloaded socket or blocked vents (fire), a trailing cable across a walkway (tripping). A general "messy room" does not name the cable a marker needs.
"Be careful" is not a prevention
A prevention must be matched to the stated cause, not a generic platitude. "Be careful with cables" or "be safe around electricity" says nothing to do and scores no credit. Name the exact fix: "route the cable along the wall in a cable duct" for a trailing cable, "do not overload the socket" for fire, "keep drinks away from equipment" for electrocution.
Hazard → cause → prevention
Physical-safety questions are marked on matched triples: name the hazard precisely (electrocution, fire, tripping or falling), state the specific cause (spilled drink, overloaded socket, trailing cable, unstable stand), and give a prevention that removes that exact cause.
Explain needs a "because"
If the command word is explain or describe, add the reason with "because…": "keep drinks away from the computer, because a spill could cause a short circuit and give an electric shock." A bare instruction with no reason loses the mark even when the hazard is named.
Give two different preventions
When asked for two prevention strategies, give two genuinely different ideas, not the same one reworded. For a trailing cable, "reroute it around the edge" and "cover it with a cable duct" are two; "move the cable" and "put it elsewhere" are one idea twice and score once.
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