Posted By Glyn Atkinson
Do you exceed the HSE expectation of qualified competent safety person within your company?

Are your insurers happy with the level of safety risk assessment being done.

Both of these could put pressure on your firm to have a qualified person in place?

The NEBOSH certificate is regarded as the first step to professional competence for either an internal safety competent person or an outside contractor doing the work for you.

Posted By MP Grayson
If I were you in your shoes I would hit the NEBOSH web site and look for a local college that delivers the National Certificate. Shop around and you could find that the cost is not as much as you think. I had to fund my own level 3 course (national certificate). I cut the cost by doing it at my local college in the evening. The disadvantage was that it was spread over a long time, we only did 2 hours a week. The advantage was that it only cost me a few hundred spondoolies, very cheap in my books. Admittingly that was a few years ago now, but the cost hasn't gone up that much.

You will need to move fast as that route was very popular and the colleges will no doubt be passed enrolment. But people do drop out or fail to turn up, so you maybe in luck.

Or alternatively you could push your employer a bit harder by highlighting the cost v benefits of you being formally trained during day release. I`ve just recruited a full time Health and Safety assistant with very little experience. It has only cost my employer approximately £500 on day release (plus 11 days off work) to get him his national certificate. To put him on a Managing Safety course would have set us back nearly as much (but only 5 days away from work)and he would only have been at level 2.

I hate training agreements, (and this is now going to prompt another, "are training agreements legal" debates) but Directors love them. Have you considered volunteering to signing a one year training agreement if they fork out a few hundred quid for a course. The agreement would be that they fund the course and you stay on for at least a year after. I think that this is one area where companies live in fear. They don't want to train people that will move on and get better paid jobs, it may be the real reason for your employer not moving on this. But £500 isn't that much for a medium sized company.

Looking at your post you come across as having the right attitude. So all I can say is keep pushing, be crafty if you have to but don't give up.

Oh and as for family life, if you take the next step.....Diploma. Don't worry about the family life. YOU WONT HAVE ONE.

Best of luck.

Posted By Seano
I did the NEBOSH Cert at my local college over 14 weeks for £500 on day release.

Don't know how you ended up paying £1000 for distance learning, these are usually the same sort of price as of the colleges.

Posted By Teresa Budworth
Reply from NEBOSH:

There is one other option - not an easy one - which is to study by yourself and register for the NEBOSH Certificate examinations as an external candidate.

There are a number of text books available which cover the material in the NEBOSH Certificate syllabus which are suitable for self-study and some people also use web sites for support (You could ask the forum users for recommendations on both).

The Certificate syllabus, past papers and examiners reports can be purchasd from NEBOSH. The NEBOSH web site also lists course providers who have told us that they will accept external examination candidates, (http://www.nebosh.org.uk/NationalGeneralCertificate.pdf) although they will levy an invigilation charge in addition to NEBOSH's examination fees (currently £90 if you take both examinations and the practical at one sitting)

We do receive some very positive feedback about distance learning providers and many people do achieve success through this route.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Posted By Hard Hat Harry
I have checked out the local College but sadly they can’t do NEBOSH evenings, only day release, which taking every Friday off sick is sadly not viable.

Seano the course I applied for was a ‘3 in 1’ General + Dip 1&2 which takes someone a lot smarter than I to complete. Funding the exam was another hurdle too many at the time. The thought of distance learning now makes me feel like I’ve been sold an overpriced CD at a car-boot sale. A sweeping comment I know.

So far I have on my list of do I's:

IOSH managing safely D/L
NEBOSH general D/L
Paralegal Studies L2 ILEX - not til next year but at the local college - Big downside not a specific Safety Law certificate


Having said all this there is loads of great information here, thanks to you all, I must say the safety workers here are pretty friendly and helpful I've not seen any clipboard fights anyway!