OCR AAQ Applied Science • F185 • Lesson 11 • Task 1 preparation

Task 1 Readiness: Risk Assessment and Parallel Mock Plan

Bring the whole planning toolkit together: hazards, controls, precise methods, evidence-led justification and a separate practice case.

📖 Crime Scene Safety Manual📖 CLEAPSS: Making and recording risk assessments▶ Using PPE in Labs (7 min)📖 OCR Guide to Referencing
By the end

You should be able to…

  • distinguish hazard from risk and select suitable controls
  • complete the OCR-style fields: activity, hazards, risks, controls and emergency measures
  • interpret explain, create/plan and complete command words
  • audit a full preservation, collection and analysis plan for precision and workability
What is the difference between a hazard and a risk?
Final preparation

Risk assessment: specific, not generic

Click each information panel. It opens straight to the information — no extra reveal.

🧱Physical hazardsSharp objects, unstable items, trips and unfamiliar environments.Click for information
⚗️Chemical hazardsUnknown chemicals, reagents and disinfectants.Click for information
☣️Biological hazardsBodily fluids, microorganisms and contaminated material.Click for information
🧤Control measuresPPE, barriers, hygiene, safe technique and appropriate equipment.Click for information
Risk-assessment logic: Activity → Hazard → Risk → Control measures → Emergency measures. “Wear PPE” is not enough unless the PPE/control actually matches the hazard.
Command words

Know what the criteria are asking

Explain

Give reasons: method because evidence/property/risk.

Create / plan

Produce a workable sequence with enough detail to carry out the investigation.

Complete

Fill in the required risk-assessment evidence accurately and specifically.

Method audit

Can another person actually follow your plan?

Specific evidence

Name the evidence and reference/location being handled.

Equipment

Include relevant sizes and quantities.

PPE + repeats

State controls and number of repeats/comparisons.

Why this method?

Link the method to contamination control, evidence property or analytical question.

Teacher model

Worked risk-assessment row

Practice activity: collect a simulated biological stain from a shard of broken glass using a swab.

Why is “gloves” alone not a complete control plan?
Guided practice

Hazard, risk or control?

Press start

Work through the cases one at a time.

These are parallel practice examples, not the live set assignment.

Independent consolidation

Parallel Mock Task 1: The Stolen Championship Trophy

This is not the OCR live assignment.

A school sports centre discovers a championship trophy has been stolen from a locked display. A small blood-like smear is on a cracked acrylic panel. A partly eaten biscuit is beneath a bench. Grey fibres, a brown hair, a muddy shoeprint, flakes of silver coating and soil are recovered nearby. Police provide reference fibres, hairs, shoeprints, teeth impressions and pre-prepared soil cultures from three fictional individuals.

Your planning rehearsal

  1. Identify relevant forensic-biology disciplines and explain how each could aid the case.
  2. Plan scene restriction, documentation, search and recovery/packaging/storage.
  3. Select analytical techniques for at least four evidence types and write workable methods.
  4. Explain why the selected approaches are appropriate.
  5. Complete at least four risk-assessment rows covering scene and laboratory work.

Self-audit: equipment quantities, PPE, repeats, result formats and limitations.

Review notes

  • A hazard is a source of potential harm; risk considers the likelihood and consequence of harm in context.
  • Forensic work can involve physical, chemical and biological hazards.
  • Controls must match the hazard; PPE is only one type of control.
  • The OCR risk template requires activity, hazards, risks, control measures and emergency measures.
  • Task 1 P2/P3 methods must be step-by-step and include equipment sizes/quantities, PPE and repeats where appropriate.
  • M1/M2 focus on why the particular chosen methods are appropriate.
  • Use parallel practice cases; do not draft the live set-assignment response as formative work.

Glossary

Why this matters for Task 1

This is the final preparation for P1–P4 and M1–M2. Students should leave with a clear checklist for producing a complete evidence-led Task 1 plan independently.

Final checkpoint

Lesson 11 quiz