NEBOSH Diploma in Occupational Health

Overview

The NEBOSH National Diploma is the flagship NEBOSH award and is the first UK vocational qualification to be developed specifically for health and safety professionals.  Since its introduction in 1988 it has become established as the most popular qualification of its kind, with over 10,000 students having successfully gained the Diploma.

 

The NEBOSH National Diploma is the qualification for aspiring health and safety professionals, building directly upon the foundation of knowledge provided by the NEBOSH National General Certificate.  It is designed to provide students with the expertise required to undertake a career as a safety and health practitioner and also provides a sound basis for progression to postgraduate study.

Course Outline

The NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health comprises four core units:

Unit A – Managing health and safety

Unit B – Hazardous agents in the workplace

Unit C – Workplace and work equipment safety

Unit D – Workplace-based assignment

Unit A: Managing health and safety

  • Principles of health and safety management
  • Loss causation and evaluation
  • Assessing and evaluating risk
  • Systems approach for controlling risk
  • Measuring health and safety performance
  • Organisational factors
  • Human factors
  • Principles of health and safety law – criminal and civil

Unit B: Hazardous agents in the workplace

  • Occupational health and hygiene
  • Toxicology and epidemiology
  • Chemical agents, evaluating risk
  • Hazardous substances
  • Biological agents
  • Psychosocial agents
  • Ergonomic agents

Unit C: Workplace and work equipment

  • General workplace issues
  • Hazards and controls associated with work equipment
  • Machinery safety
  • Mechanical handling
  • Principles of fire and explosion
  • Workplace fire precautions
  • Environmental pollution and waste management
  • Unit D: Workplace-based assignment

The focus of the Unit D assignment should be the application of the knowledge and understanding developed in Units A, B and C to a real workplace situation.

Assessment structure

Each unit will be assessed by an examination. The pass mark for each examination is 45%. Each candidate is also required to complete the 8,000-word assignment for Unit D. The overall mark will be an aggregate of the examination and assignment marks. Slightly more emphasis will be given to the examination marks.