Posted By Phil haworth I wonder if somebody would be kind enough to give me details of what is involved in Health & safety N.V.Q level 4. I was thinking of doing NEBOSH Diploma but I am leaning more towards the N.V.Q. I am involved in Health & safety on a day to day basis and have so far done OCR 387 and NEBOSH Certificate. Any help/advice would be very appreciated.

Posted By Phil haworth Brian Many thanks for taking the time to help. I've now got an idea of the level of the units for the NVQ from the site you gave. Think I need a holiday! But as we all know there's no rest in this game.... thanks again, Phil Haworth

Posted By Alan Pinder Hi Phil Just to add my tuppence worth to your thread. Personally I think you will be better off in the long run by taking a Diploma. My reason why: I and a colleague of mine completed the NVQ level 4 almost three years ago with the intention of using this qualification to gain corporate membership of IOSH. My colleague applied for corporate status before me, and after numerous discussions with IOSH and an interview he has STILL not been granted full membership. We both accept that maybe, in IOSH's eyes, his portfolio was/is not up to the standard required. However his portfolio was assessed by an external verifyer appointed by City & Guilds, and this suggests to me that IOSH were questioning this verifyer's competency by not accepting the NVQ qualification as awarded by C&G. Anyway, in the end I completed the NTU Diploma in addition to my NVQ4 in order to be assured (as far as paper qualification was concerned) of having my membership upgrade accepted by IOSH (which I'm pleased to say it now has). I am not saying that all NVQ qualified persons will have a similar problem (I do know of one person that has had it accepted) but it may be a consideration when deciding which qualification route to take. The Nottingham Trent Diploma is also reasonably priced when compared to NEBOSH Diploma and has the advantage of only taking one year to complete (part time 1 day a week)as opposed to the 2 years part time for the full NEBOSH Diploma. One other consideration is that some advertised safety jobs specify "MIOSH by examination" i.e. not by NVQ route (my interpretation anyway). Hope this all helps in your decision if you haven't made it already. Regards Alan P.S. The NTU Diploma is available through some other education establishments if Nottingham is too far for you to travel. On my course we had people travelling up from London and Kent!

Posted By Bernard Angus Don't be discouraged by Alan Pinder's response. NQV Level 4 is really appropriate for people working in higher risk environments, like power generation, steel manufacturing, demolition etc. You will be unlikelty to satisfy the evidence requirements by working in an office. I had my Level 4 portfolio (via C & G and Lancaster University) independently assessed by IOSH, who complemented me on it and admitted me as a Member in 1997, although I am also qualified as a Project Manager. The value of a good NVQ 4 can easily outstrip that of a NEBOSH Diploma, awarded to someone who has no experience whatsoever of managing health and safety in real and high risk situations. But you will need to learn the domain knowledge, for which a NEBOSH Diploma would be useful for the non practical part of your NVQ Level 4. Go for it!

Posted By Nick Higginson Bernard, On what basis do you make your statement "The value of a good NVQ 4 can easily outstrip that of a NEBOSH Diploma"? Is this simply your personal opinion? I'm not sure if this was intended to provke response, but it is indeed a very strange statement to make. Is it perhaps influenced by the fact that you are an NVQ holder yourself? Nick