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Lesson planC170 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Fit for Work: health, safety and absence at work
Students learn the language of workplace health, safety and absence, explain causes and effects, and write an email to a board recommending improvements.
Business · Health and safety · Absenteeism · Workplace
Or download everything as a ZIP (4 PDFs)This lesson plan and its PDFs are free.
Plan at a glance
Aims
- Learn and use 21 words and phrases in 3 sets: Health, safety and absence, Causes and effects, Planning improvements
- Read for detail: how Wrenfield cut absence
- Writing task: an email to the board
Stages · 70 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs discuss: what makes a workplace safe and healthy? What happens in a team when several colleagues are off sick? Collect ideas on the board.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 15 minControlled practice: Ex. 2–3
- 10 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4–5
- 10 minReading: Ex. 6
- 20 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
Talking about causes
- Cause → result: X contributes to Y · X has a knock-on effect on Y · X is a contributing factor in Y.
- Result → cause: Y stems from X · Y is attributable to X (formal) · The root cause of Y is X.
- All of these are followed by a noun or an -ing form: stem from lifting, contribute to staff feeling tired.
Collocations for action plans
- carry out a risk assessment (not make) · wear protective equipment · report a near miss.
- implement a plan · roll out training · tackle a problem · allocate a budget for/to something · set a target of 20% · monitor progress.
Study tips
- Learn cause-and-effect phrases in pairs that point in opposite directions: contribute to / stem from.
- When you propose an action, add who, when and how you will measure it: that is what makes a plan convincing.
Glossary
- Health, safety and absence8 items
- Causes and effects6 items
- Planning improvements7 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Health and safety words
Match each word or phrase with its meaning. There is one meaning you do not need.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
A difficult year
Complete the sentences from a report with a word or phrase from the box. There is one you do not need.
Word box
Tap a gap, then a word, or type the answer.
- a
The of most lifting injuries is simple: the delivery crates are too heavy.
- b
Every absence has a on the rest of the team, who have to cover the missing shifts.
- c
Poor lighting in the stockrooms was a in several of last year's falls.
- d
Replacing the broken step ladders costs very little, so it would be a .
- e
We plan to the new training to all 240 shops over the next six months.
- f
The board has agreed to of €80,000 for new lifting equipment.
- g
We need to of reducing sick leave by 10% by the end of next year.
3
Cause, effect or action?
Read the sentences from a meeting. Is each one explaining a cause, describing an effect or proposing an action? Put each one in the right group.
- a
Most of the back injuries stem from lifting heavy crates.
- b
We should roll out lifting training to every shop.
- c
As a result, customers wait longer at the tills.
- d
Long shifts contribute to tiredness on the shop floor.
- e
I suggest we carry out a risk assessment in every cold store.
- f
This has had a knock-on effect on staff morale.
- g
Managers will monitor progress every month.
- h
Around a third of the absences are attributable to back problems.
- i
Consequently, overtime costs have risen sharply.
4
Say it in a business report
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word given and between two and five words, including that word.
- a
Most of the back injuries happen because staff lift heavy crates.
STEM
Most of the back injuries heavy crates.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
Poor lighting is partly responsible for the rise in falls.
CONTRIBUTES
Poor lighting the rise in falls.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
Almost half of all sick leave is caused by colds and flu.
ATTRIBUTABLE
Almost half of all sick leave colds and flu.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
The company needs to deal firmly with the problem of stress at work.
TACKLE
The company needs to stress at work.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
We have decided to spend €50,000 on safety equipment.
ALLOCATED
We have safety equipment.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- f
The new reporting system started in all our warehouses in May.
IMPLEMENTED
The new reporting system all our warehouses in May.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
5
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
Long shifts contribute for most of the mistakes on the tills.
- b
Every shop must make a risk assessment once a year.
- c
Staff must wear protecting equipment in the cold store.
- d
These problems stem out of a lack of training.
- e
The increase is mainly attributable for the flu season.
- f
The new rota will be rolled on across all shops in March.
6
Read: how Wrenfield cut absence
Read the article from a business magazine. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
Two years ago, Wrenfield, a parcel delivery company with 3,000 drivers and warehouse staff, had a problem it could no longer ignore. Absenteeism had reached nearly 9%, and the knock-on effect was clear: parcels arrived late, and the staff who came to work were exhausted from covering extra shifts. The operations director, Nadia Osei, started by looking for the root cause. "Everyone assumed people were simply taking days off," she says. "But when we studied the sick leave records, most of the absences stemmed from back and shoulder injuries. Our drivers were loading vans in a hurry, often alone." The company tackled the problem in stages. The quick wins came first: trolleys for heavy parcels and a rule that no one lifts anything over 20 kg alone. Then Wrenfield rolled out manual handling training to every depot and allocated a budget for adjustable loading platforms. Managers were also asked to report every near miss, without blaming anyone. That last change was the hardest. "At first, reports went up, and some managers panicked," Osei explains. "But more reports meant we were finally seeing the risks." The company set a target of cutting absenteeism to 6% within two years and monitored progress every quarter. It reached 6.2%. Osei is not satisfied yet: "A real safety culture takes longer than two years."
- a
Before the changes, staff who came to work had to cover for absent colleagues.
- b
Most absences turned out to be caused by injuries rather than by people choosing to stay at home.
- c
The adjustable loading platforms were the first changes Wrenfield made.
- d
The number of near-miss reports fell once managers were asked to report them.
- e
Wrenfield's drivers now earn more than they did two years ago.
- f
Wrenfield did not quite reach its target.
7
Write: an email to the board
Write an email.
You are the health and safety manager of a chain of shops. Over the last two years, accidents with time off work have risen by 15%, most of them from lifting and falls from ladders, and sick leave for stress has also increased. Write an email to the board (180–220 words). Explain the main problems and their likely causes, then recommend three actions, each with a deadline and a target. Use at least six words or phrases from the box. Word box: absenteeism · a near miss · manual handling · a risk assessment · a safety culture · the root cause · stem from · contribute to · a knock-on effect · implement · roll out · tackle · set a target · monitor progress · a quick win Example: The root cause of most lifting injuries is the weight of the delivery crates, so a quick win would be to switch to smaller crates.
Suggested minimum: 180 words
0 words · aim for at least 180
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 21 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 3 sets.
Health, safety and absence
- absenteeism
- the regular absence of employees from work when they should be there
- High absenteeism can put pressure on the staff who are at work.
- sick leave
- time off work because you are ill
- She was on sick leave for two weeks after the operation.
- a near miss
- an event that could have caused an injury but didn't
- A box fell from a shelf next to a cashier: it was a near miss.
- a workplace injury
- an injury that happens to someone while they are working
- Most workplace injuries in warehouses are caused by lifting.
- manual handling
- lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling loads by hand
- All new staff receive training in safe manual handling.
- a risk assessment
- a careful check of what could go wrong in a job or place and how to prevent it
- The manager carried out a risk assessment before the new machine was used.
- protective equipment
- clothing and items such as gloves, helmets and safety boots that keep workers safe
- Staff in the cold store must wear protective equipment.
- a safety culture
- the shared attitudes in an organisation towards safety, for example whether people report problems
- A strong safety culture means staff feel able to report a near miss.
Causes and effects
- the root cause
- the most basic reason why a problem happens
- Poor training was the root cause of the accidents.
- stem from
- be caused by or come from something
- Many of the delays stem from staff shortages.
- contribute to
- be one of the reasons why something happens
- Long shifts contribute to tiredness and mistakes.
- attributable to
- be caused by something (formal)
- Around a third of the absences are attributable to back problems.
- a knock-on effect
- an indirect result of something that happens
- Staff absence has a knock-on effect on customer service.
- a contributing factor
- one of several things that cause a situation
- Bad weather was a contributing factor in the increase in falls.
Planning improvements
- implement
- start using a plan or system that has been agreed
- The company implemented a new reporting system last year.
- roll out
- introduce something new in stages across an organisation
- The training will be rolled out to all shops by the end of the year.
- tackle
- make a determined effort to deal with a problem
- We need to tackle the causes of stress, not just the symptoms.
- allocate a budget
- decide to use a certain amount of money for a particular purpose
- The board has allocated a budget of €80,000 for new equipment.
- set a target
- decide on a result you plan to achieve by a certain time
- We have set a target of cutting accidents by 20% next year.
- monitor progress
- check regularly how well something is going
- Managers will monitor progress every month.
- a quick win
- an improvement that is easy and fast to achieve
- Better lighting in the stockroom would be a quick win.
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