Nebosh National General Certificate - Week 1

Duration: 2 Weeks      

Accreditation:  NEBOSH

The NEBOSH National General Certificate provides a broad understanding of key health and safety issues.

It covers risk management, UK HSE legislation, and how to identify and control common workplace hazards. 

The course is split into 2 units: NG1 and NG2.

NG1 is assessed with an open book online exam while NG2 is a practical work-based assignment. 

Learning outcomes

By completing the NEBOSH General Certificate, you'll be able to:

• Justify health and safety improvements using moral, financial and legal arguments
• Advise on the main duties for health and safety in the workplace
• Help your organisation manage contractors
• Work within a health and safety management system, and recognise what effective general policy, organisation, and arrangements should look like
• Positively influence health and safety culture and behaviour to improve performance
• Do a general risk assessment of your workplace 
• Recognise workplace changes that have significant health and safety impacts and how to minimise them
• Develop basic safe systems of work and know when to use permit-to-work systems for special risks
• Take part in incident investigations
• Check the effectiveness of your management system through monitoring, audits and reviews

Full course syllabus

Unit NG1: Management of Health and Safety

Element 1: Why we should manage workplace health and safety

• 1.1 Discuss the moral, financial and legal reasons for managing health and safety in the workplace
• 1.2 Explain how the law works and the consequences of non-compliance
• 1.3 Summarise the main health and safety duties of employers and workers in HSWA 1974 and MHSWR 1999
• 1.4 Explain how contractors should be selected, monitored and managed

Element 2: How health and safety management systems work and what they look like

• 2.1 Give an overview of the elements of a health and safety management system and the benefits of having a formal/certified system
• 2.2 Discuss the main ingredients of health and safety management systems that make it effective - general policy, organisation, arrangements

Element 3: Managing risk - understanding people and processes

• 3.1 Describe the concept of health and safety culture and how it influences performance
• 3.2 Summarise how health and safety culture at work can be improved
• 3.3 Summarise the human factors which positively or negatively influence behaviour at work in a way that can affect health and safety
• 3.4 Explain the principles of the risk assessment process
• 3.5 Discuss typical workplace changes that have significant health and safety impacts and ways to minimise those impacts
• 3.6 Describe what to consider when developing and implementing a safe system of work for general activities
• 3.7 Explain the role, function and operation of a permit-to-work system
• 3.8 Discuss typical emergency procedures (including training and testing) and how to decide what level of first aid is needed in the workplace

Element 4: Health and safety monitoring and measuring

• 4.1 Discuss common methods and indicators used to monitor the effectiveness of management systems
• 4.2 Explain why and how incidents should be investigated, recorded and reported
• 4.3 Explain what an audit is and why and how it is used to evaluate a management system
• 4.4 Explain why and how regular reviews of health and safety performance are needed

NG2: Risk Assessment

For this unit, you must produce a risk assessment of a workplace which considers a wide range of identified hazards (drawn from elements 5-11) and meets best practice standards.

Element 5: Physical and psychological health

Element 6: Musculoskeletal health

Element 7: Chemical and biological agents

Element 8: General workplace issues

Element 9: Work equipment

Element 10: Fire

Element 11: Electricity

Course assessment

• An online open-book assessment
• A 3-hour practical risk assessment carried out in the workplace 

You need to pass both assessments to achieve your NEBOSH General Certificate.