What is IOSH?

Students taking an IOSH course through British Safety Council will benefit from excellent, high quality facilities and outstanding tutors with industry experience.

What does IOSH stand for?

IOSH stands for Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, the Chartered body for health and safety professionals. IOSH is a UK-based organisation offering professional awards in order to raise standards of health and safety in the workplace.

What is IOSH training?

IOSH qualifications help people in all sectors stay healthy and safe at work. Two IOSH training courses are available: Working Safely and Managing Safely:

• The Working Safely course is aimed at all employees and covers the essentials of health and safety in the workplace.
• The Managing Safely course is aimed at managers, team leaders and supervisors, and gives them the knowledge and skills to manage health and safety within their teams.

IOSH training courses combine up-to-date theory and practice to enable around 100,000 people a year to earn awards. Earning an IOSH qualification will allow the holder to ensure that the health and safety practices in their workplace are current, effective and well managed.

What is IOSH Managing Safely?

IOSH Managing Safely is a three-day course that gives managers and supervisors the knowledge and skills they need to manage health and safety within their teams.

IOSH Managing Safely covers responsibilities for health and safety, hazard identification, assessing and controlling risks, accident investigation and measuring performance.

IOSH Managing Safely gives managers the confidence to drive health and safety performance within their teams and to improve the health and safety culture of their organisation as a whole.

What does IOSH training include?

The training syllabus varies depending on the course, but both include the following common key aspects:

Identifying hazards

The Working Safely course considers a range of hazards that could potentially cause harm including mechanical, physical, chemical, environmental, biological and organisational hazards. The Managing Safely course looks at hazards from a specific industry perspective including location, activity, substance and equipment.

Defining and assessing risks

Both courses guide learners through the risk assessment process and use a simple scoring system to use during assessments. Both also seek to underline that even simple, repetitive tasks can result in serious risks.

Improving health and safety performance

Looking at systems and processes, this topic investigates a wide range of workplace safety issues including inspections, permits, protective equipment, signage and emergency procedures to demonstrate how checking performance across these aspects can help to reduce risk.

IOSH vs. NEBOSH: which should you choose?

Both IOSH and NEBOSH courses are highly regarded and either type of certification will enable the holder to use their skills to improve health and safety standards across their company.

The main difference between IOSH and NEBOSH is who the courses are targeted at:

• IOSH courses are aimed at employees and managers who don’t have specific responsibility for health and safety or are working in a lower-risk industry.
• NEBOSH courses are aimed at people who are seeking a career in health and safety management. They lead to nationally-recognised qualifications.