Posted By HarveyJ Hi all, I have been working in Health & Safety for 6 years now, passing my NEBOSH General Certificate with Merit in May 2005. I am 26 years old. I also hold a manual handling instructor/assessor certificate, passed with distinction in 2006. I am qualified first aider, fire risk assessor and internal ESH trainer. Am i ready to progress my studies to IOSH Diploma level? I feel that I have the correct grounding/experience to do the qualification. My company will fund for me and the competency I will gain from doing the qualification will develop my professional development so much, it is a must in my eyes, not to mention it's the leading industry qualification Therefore...this said....what advice can you give me about the course. Providers? Block release or day release? Private study time? Best practice advice? Another material fact, we have a 4 1/2 month old son (best thing that has ever happened to us) so I need to be realistic about completion of the qualification, probably over a 3 year period? One other thing I have studied to this level previously in college - different subject matter All advice welcome best wishes John

Posted By garyh Go for it! I would advise day or block release (NOT) distance learning. (DL has a lower pass rate generally speaking). I work as a trainer for Integra http://www.integratraini...nsulting.co.uk/index.htm who,(he says modestly) have a pretty good name. Integra has centres at Sunderland and Chorley.

Posted By Philby' ....if you decide to go down the NVQ route, you could do worse than Linda Crossland-Clarke, she posts here regularly so you could drop her an email....I dont work for her, or the company, but she always gives good advice, without a sales pitch!!!!

Posted By John Fraser Harvey Harvey, to me you have a straight choice of either doing the NVQ Level 4 or the NEBOSH Dip. If I was in your shoes, I would do the NEBOSH Dip as it is recognisable across all sectors of the economy. NVQ Level 4 is rather limited to the organisation you are currently work for. As others have said, do the dip block release ( quite expensive ) but if your employer is picking up the bill, then it could be an option. Distance learning is cheaper, but hard to commit to in your circumstances, although you still have to put the time into it wherever option you select.I have done the dip distance learning and it was tough, but suited my circumstances at the time and that I was involved in other aspects of my career. After this you should get on the path to charter ship with IOSH with CMIOSH Status being your ultimate aim. Good Luck John

Posted By HarveyJ Thanks very much all for the advice..... Let's be clear, I am under no illusions that it will be a formality and I am fully expectant for the jump in difficulty level over the NGC. It is after all level 6 opposed to level 3. Sound advice all round. Will need to get ball rolling with suitable providers etc..... I am happy to make the sacrifices to my life now for the gains later in life. Personally, block release would suit me better as i commute long distances to work each day. I would prefer block weeks of learning as I found this worked for me well with previous training undertaken, I can then schedule the private study hours around work/home duties....perhaps stealing the odd hour here and there in the workplace to study!!! All the best, John

Posted By Rob35 What area are you based in? So the training provider recommendations will best suit your needs. Rob35

Posted By peter gotch 1 Hi John, I am head of discipline function within a H&S consultancy unit employing over 30 people, but within a multi-disciplinary organisation which has some 5000 UK staff. I was also the first H&S professional when I joined the company as it was then, with some 900 staff in 1991. By 1998 we had expanded the H&S Department to 4 - one Fellow, two Members and a graduate. [Long before Chartered Status!!] At about this time our Chairman [who in a slightly different status had been the architect of the creation of my (then) position] encouraged us to grow through development of existing staff. We went down the route of Level 4 VQs and this is still our solution of preference - [but not only route - one of our staff has got a distinction in his MSc this month] - as candidates have to demonstrate their competence in the work environment rather than their ability to pass exams [partly as a reflection of the dire pass rate on the then Dip2 not sure how the stats are stacking up on the Level 5 - the ever helpful Hazel Harvey @ IOSH would know] (noting that C&G by the time we made our decision had tightened up on their monitoring of providers) I have been one of the lucky ones who has tended to breeze through exams with minimal effort [even in O Level Latin] - revising only those parts of my education that I wanted to deal with in the exam room, up to and including Post Graduate Diploma at Aston, when I was NEVER going to choose to do the likely bent scaffold tube question [in rough terms, derive from first principles the reduction in safe working load if a standard is bent 10 degrees - and yes, it did come up], but was DEFINITELY going to do the question about legislative requirements for steam boilers if that came up [which it did - if my recollection is correct 31 of our class of 34 all chose this question, thanks Hani Raafat.] Others freeze [or do not do well] in an exam environment. I did this once at uni, and took 15 minutes time out and a cigarette - back to exam desk, OK!! Of course an aversion to exams does NOT indicate lack of competence. [Implication - for those who struggled with school or higher ed exams, VQ route may be preferable?] I persuaded the then decision maker to resource the time [not the fees for which I had budgetary authorisation] for my then Departmental Secretary to do the NEBOSH Gen. Cert. on the basis that she would be a better "gatekeeper" for me. Was not particularly surprised when she explained that she no longer wanted to be a Secy. Towards her attaining Level 4 NVQ, we sent her to the Falklands to co-present IOSH Managing Safely [I got a Christmas card with a penguin on it!!]. Long since attained CMIOSH status. We have similar examples including the Dip1 holder who got their Level 4 [and CMIOSH] and is now responsible for the operation of our consultancy business in Scotland and NI. Whatever less well informed employers think, there is the sales pitch - Do you want demonstatable competence or an exam qualification? But......a word of caution.....if someone is going to get Level 4, they really need to be exposed to dealing with a wide range of different hazards/risks. Our diversity of activity is such that this is relatively easy to achieve, and I should not be surprised if my decision makers did not recognise that the savings in outgoings [Sales pitch!] would be balanced by the inability of my employer to pigeon hole my secretary [and other candidates] into limited scope of risks. So. You need to think about whether a VQ route might give someone the right balance of ACTUAL experience against the semi or wholly FICTIONAL [or away from the candidate's normal work enviroment(s)] experience provided by an VQ assessor. Good luck, whatever! p

Posted By garyh I disagree with on quote above - that lack of exam compsoure does not indicate lack of competence. Whilst I agree that exams are a very limited way of assessing competence, they do test in their format the ability to think and act quickly and decisively in a pressure situation. For some circumstances, exams and pressure situations are a good way testing. Put it another way, if you wish to a professional safety manager, you need to be able to recall things, make judgements and write reports etc in pressure situations. If you can't this will limit youir career. All of the above is my opinion, of course.

Posted By Tim Briggs Harvey J - Gary and others Universities have found that there are many other effective ways of assessing knowledge besides sitting students in a room and providing lists of questions. The traditional stereotype of an examination may be an easy option of assessing a persons knowledge about a particular subject, but in many/some ways can be very limiting and can put people off educating themselves. Harvey - have you considered the University routes - they are equally up to the level of NEBOSH Dip and far superior to NVQ and many have varied assessment methods that are not as intimidating as "Traditional Examination" techniques. With that I will finish as I could well be accused of pushing my own boat and that was not my intention. Regards Tim Briggs IOSH Mentor Champion.

Posted By peter gotch The page to which Jackie refers is at http://www.iosh.co.uk/in...m?go=membership.gradiosh Regards, Peter

Posted By HarveyJ I was unaware of how many options there are available to gain Grad IOSH status. Thanks very much for all the information, it is much appreciated. I shall review the options available and may post for futher opinion on alternative course options. Regards, John

Posted By Paul Horton Go for the NEBOSH, it's hard work, put your life on hold while you do it and read round the subjects (I'm waiting for my B & C results Good luck

Posted By John Fraser HarveyJ Do the NEBOSH Dip distance or block release or NVQ Level 4 and get to chartership status of IOSH as soon as possible. John

Posted By sezm2105 Hi, I found that in order to get any role in Health and Safety I needed a NEBOSH qualification, this was the advice from the recruitment agencies. I found that my local college did a day and night course (the night course took a little longer to complete). I was a single parent, who self funded and was in full time employment. My employer let me have the time off to attend college one day a week if I took a pay cut. Which I did. I finally, after three attempts to pass Unit C, completed and gained the NEBOSH Diploma. It was tough trying to balance and took a lot of effort (and tears of frustration and sleep deprivation) in order to do it. It was so worth it. I am now unemployed, like so many due to redundancy. However, the responses I get from agencies and at interviews when I mention the fact that I have NEBOSH diploma (I think its level six) makes it worth while. I will achieve gradIOSH and commence my CPD. My advice to you is GO FOR IT!!!! Your employer is prepared to fund, you already have the practical experience... Yes, having a young family is not easy and you do feel like your living on "planet NEBOSH!" but the rewards from what is really a short time frame and a effort is,in my opinion, worth it. There are excellent free downloads of notes and textbooks, use the HSE websites and the contacts that you will make through attending a course, this website and the course provider should have a huge selection of RRC notes which I found great. And lots and lots of coffee!!! Good luck, let us know how you get on.