Blended NEBOSH National Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety Management Professionals

Upon successful completion, learners will be awarded the NEBOSH National Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety Management Professionals. This prestigious qualification is globally recognised and can lead to Certified Membership of IOSH.

The NEBOSH National Diploma course consists of three units.

• DN1 - Workplace health and safety principles. This unit covers moral, economic and societal drivers, health and safety law and management systems, organisational structures and leadership, behavioural change programmes, risk perception, human failures and reliability, hazard identification techniques and loss causation
• DN2 - Controlling workplace health issues. This covers occupational health, mental health, wellbeing, lone working and workplace violence, hazardous substances, epidemiology and toxicology, biological agents, noise, vibration, radiation, musculoskeletal, manual handling and welfare
• DN3 - Controlling workplace safety issues. This unit covers safe working environments, welfare, fire and explosion, confined spaces, work equipment, lifting and mobile equipment, electricity, construction and work related transport.

• You will be able to advise your organisation on the types of legislation likely to apply to the organisation and how enforcement actions could apply; the relevance of the International Labour Organisation’s conventions/recommendations to the organisation; how non-government bodies and standards could influence health and safety in the organisation
• You will be able to promote a positive health and safety culture by:
• gaining commitment and participation; and
• engaging, supporting and influencing leaders (and others) to change attitudes and behaviour and make health and safety a priority
• You will be able to assess, develop and maintain individual and organisational health and safety competence
• You will be able to understand risk management including the techniques for identifying hazards, the different types of risk assessment, considerations when implementing sensible and proportionate additional control measures and developing a risk management strategy
• You will be able to develop and implement proactive and reactive health and safety monitoring systems and carry out reviews and auditing of such systems
• You will be able to continually develop your own professional skills and ethics to actively influence improvements in health and safety by providing persuasive arguments to workers at all levels
• You will be able to develop a health and safety policy strategy within your organisation (including proactive safety, Corporate Social Responsibility and the change management process)
• You will be able to manage contractors and supply chains to ensure compliance with health and safety standards.
• You will be able to advise the organisation on a range of common workplace health issues/ hazards including how these can be assessed and controlled.

There are no formal entry requirements for this qualification, however learners should consider that this is a professional level qualification, set at SCQF Level 10. Therefore, to increase your chances of successfully passing your NEBOSH Diploma, the British Safety Council strongly recommends that you have prior learning gained through previous health and safety qualifications, such as the NEBOSH National General Certificate, before undertaking this course. The syllabus assumes that learners will have this level of prior learning.

If you do not hold such a recognised qualification, please contact [email protected] to discuss your options.

It is also vital that learners have an appropriate standard of English language in order to understand and articulate the concepts contained in the syllabus.

NEBOSH recommends that learners undertaking this qualification should reach a minimum standard of English equivalent to an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 7.0 or higher in IELTS tests.

For further information please see the IELTS website.

The NEBOSH National Diploma does not include learning on specific topics taught in the NEBOSH National General Certificate. It is highly recommended that students ensure they are familiar with these topics before studying this course as this information underpins many of the learning outcomes in the diploma.

When you start the course, we enrol you as a student with NEBOSH. Your initial enrolment period lasts for 5 years. This means that you must pass your first unit within 5 years. If you fail to pass your first unit within 5 years, you will need to re-enrol and pay another registration fee.

When you pass your first unit, your enrolment period is automatically re-set, and you have a further 5 years to pass the remaining unit. In other words, your first unit has a shelf-life of 5 years. If you do not pass the remaining unit within 5 years, your first unit will expire, and you will have to retake this unit in order to pass the qualification.

The NEBOSH Diploma comprises three units:

Unit DN1 – Know – Workplace Health and Safety Principles (National)

Unit DN2 – Do – Controlling Workplace Health Issues (National)

Unit DN3 – Do – Controlling Workplace Safety Issues (National)

A programme of study is based around a minimum of 191 taught hours and approximately 144 hours of self-study for an overall total of 335 hours (excluding assessment time).

Unit DN1 An assignment split over two papers (both papers must be submitted at the same sitting):

• Paper 1 – simulation questions.
• Paper 2 – workplace activities, reflective tasks, and a research project.

Unit DN2 Case Study (simulation only)

Unit DN3 Case Study (simulation only)

Each unit is completed remotely accompanied by an online closing interview discussing your work. 

We anticipate that it will take you around 40 hours to complete the DN1 assignment and 20 hours each for the DN2 and DN3 case studies.

The time-period given for you to complete each assessment reflects this:

• Unit DN1: 4 weeks (20 working days)
• Unit DN2: 2 weeks (10 working days)
• Unit DN3: 2 weeks (10 working days)

The percentage marks of all three units are combined and the qualification grade is based on the following boundaries:

• Distinction: 226 or higher
• Credit: 196 - 225
• Pass: 150 – 195

You can book your examinations using the link(s) below.

• Unit DN1 booking page here

• Unit DN2 booking page here

• Unit DN3 booking page here.

We run free assessment preparation days via our virtual classrooms. We recommend you also attend these days so that you can fully practice applying your knowledge and understanding to the questions set.

Results are released 50 working days after the submission date for the assessment. A unit certificate will be issued 20 working days after the notification date for each successful unit. 

You can see when your results are due on the NEBOSH website.

A qualification parchment will be issued 20 working days after the results notification date for the third successful unit.

NEBOSH National Diploma qualifications are recognised by the following membership bodies:

• Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)
• International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM)
• Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP)
• Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP)

After completing this course, students often progress to achieving Chartered Membership of IOSH (CMIOSH) or pursue further studies in health and safety management.

Please contact us to discuss your options.

British Safety Council will:

• Use suitably qualified and experienced tutors to deliver the tuition
• Cover all the specification learning outcomes
• Provide or direct you to the information you need to pass the qualification
• Provide you with expert advice on revision and examination technique
• Respond in a timely manner to any queries
• Be diligent and courteous at all times

You must:

• Attend all scheduled sessions
• Contribute to group discussions in a positive manner
• Endeavour to be active, rather than passive in terms of learning
• Complete the required number of revision hours
• Pay particular attention to advice regarding revision and examination technique
• Bring any learning difficulties to our attention at the earliest opportunity