NEBOSH courses: A Trainer’s Perspective

At SSG we want to make each of our courses as accessible as possible, and ensure we set the correct expectations for delegates looking to undertake a new course.

We sat down with our Head of Services Delivery Adam Worth to discuss what NEBOSH courses are really like, from his perspective as a trainer.  

How could a NEBOSH course benefit your career? 

NEBOSH is an internationally recognised organisation. It's well established, being founded in 1979 and providing a high standard of health and safety training and accreditation since then.

That means people associate NEBOSH qualifications with these high standards; the qualifications are widely recognised and seen as a strong foundation for those in or moving into safety focused careers. Higher level qualifications such as the diploma can be essential to those looking to progress a health and safety focused career. Many employers will identify NEBOSH courses as a mark of continuous professional development.

In your experience, what's one thing that surprises people once they start a course? 

People are often shocked to realise health and safety isn't just about putting up signs and wearing a high vis jacket: it involves elements of law, culture, psychology and other human factors too. I find a lot of people's experiences of health and safety have been general inductions with a focus on rules, which is where people might switch off.

What’s great about NEBOSH is it allows people to get a handle on health and safety culture. It's about people, systems, and processes - and continually reviewing these factors in a way that's good for your business.

What does NEBOSH mean for businesses and employers? 

The courses themselves offer a good grounding in applying occupational health and safety in a business sense. The diploma teaches you to understand business as well as safety, and how a strong health and safety culture mirrors strong business leadership and management.

This may sound counterintuitive, but when people talk about what is the most important thing in their business, lots of people are inclined to say health and safety. It is fantastic when people say that, because that is key, but I think if people were completely objective they’d probably say the most important thing is running a good, effective business that makes profit and benefits the people around it. Or for a non-profit, they might say it’s about making sure you raise more funds than you spend.

I think people fail to recognise health and safety is what helps businesses to achieve these things. An effective health and safety culture and an effective business model go hand in hand. NEBOSH courses are designed to enable businesses to be run efficiently and to achieve their goals, safely, with minimised disruption and with a clear structure.

How flexible is NEBOSH study for someone who works full time or who has other commitments? 

We try to be as flexible as possible. I would say our delivery methods certainly help - with hybrid delivery, delegates can attend the course both via the classroom or remotely. We're also growing our NEBOSH e-learning offerings, which will open barriers to entry as people can very much learn at their own pace.

People obviously need to be able to dedicate enough time in their lives to enter and complete the courses. It can be tough, but the assessments do provide some flexibility. Open book exams for the certificate level courses are completed in a window between 24 and 48 hours for example. For the diploma course, this is two weeks for units DN2 and DN3 and four weeks for DN1, so there is a sense of flexibility there.

How do we support our delegates throughout their NEBOSH qualification? How are people encouraged to seek advice and support? 

We make sure we've got tutor contact and tutor support so that students feel they've got the means to ask for help. Particularly at diploma level, we do regular check-ins individually with delegates to see how they're doing, and tailor support accordingly. We also try and use formative assessment techniques to judge how delegates are doing and identify if we need to step in and provide support.

We actively encourage this environment where people can admit if they need support, because we know how hard it can be to stand up and say you need help.

Why should people undertake NEBOSH courses?

NEBOSH opens so many doors for individuals and for the businesses they work with, all for good reason. The courses are widely respected because they do require that commitment and effort. We don't want people entering it naively, because it is a commitment and the courses can be a challenge. That's why we do what we can to provide support – screening our diploma applicants for example and having these conversations before the person has even gotten into the classroom. We work hard to ensure our students are supported, and we can overcome many of these challenges.

Our goal is to make sure people can get the qualifications they need to open doors for themselves and for their organisations, and that they feel supported in doing so.