Posted By Geoff Burt
Mentioned in 4 then. So just to take on one ill thought out comment - on the balance of probabilities it is worth the paper it's printed on.

Posted By Jay Joshi
I had responded to a similar discussion almost 2 years ago. The link is :-


http://www.iosh.co.uk/in...orum=1&thread=311&page=1

I am not going to repeat what is "constant" such as the reason why SHP has the number of advertisements it has and why NEBOSH Diploma is required as a qualification in the advertisements.

Yes, if you want IOSH Corporate membership, then at this point in time, the DipSM is not accredited for it. That is very clear.

However, several safety practitioners have very successfully used the DipSM route as a means of acquiring underpinning knowledge for their NVQ level 4 in Occupational Health and Safety AND then obtained IOSH corporate membership after fulfilling specific IOSH requirements. This may be a suitable route at this point in time for some persons.

As I had stated in my posting 2 years ago, the background to this anomaly is also due to historical reasons that no longer exist.

Both BSC and IOSH have moved forward. There is misperception that BSC is owned by an individual person. The current British Safety Council Board of Governors is made up of reputed persons including its Chairman, Sir Frank Davies.


Regarding its DipSM, yes it has a multiple choice format, but the perception that it as an "easy option" is based on those who do not have understanding of the science of candidate testing and assume that the "examination"/assessment has "stood still" in time

The DipSM of today has continuously improved over time (and is as expected for any continuous improvement) in content, its delivery in terms of training and most importantly, the DipSM examination & cross-modular assessment that results in candidates passing or failing the DiPSM.


It is unfortunate that the level of "difficulty" of passing an examination is being equated with the "science of candidate testing" and an assessment of a candidates ability to demonstrate skills of knowledge, understanding, application, explanation, evaluation and synthesis.


Qualifications at NVQ Levels 3 and 4 primarily require candidates to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and application

(rather than the higher-order skills of explanation, evaluation and synthesis).

Objective testing (multiple-choice) examinations are the preferred vehicle for testing knowledge, understanding and application.

Most major awarding bodies employ objective testing examinations for the following reasons:

Tests made up of multiple-choice questions provide a better coverage of content than essay-type questions, thus broadening the scope of the test. The majority of the syllabus can be tested in a short space of time.


Questions can be set at different cognitive levels. For example, some questions may simply test a candidate’s ability to recall facts while, at a higher level, questions may test a candidate’s understanding or ability to apply factual knowledge to given situations.

Questions can be designed with a diagnostic end in mind, in order to find out whether specific areas of a given subject are adequately known, or in order to test misconceptions.

Questions are unbiased in the sense that an examiner’s pre-conceptions cannot influence the marking.

Misreading of a question stem or an option may result in the loss of one mark only, whereas the misreading of an essay-type question can cause the candidate to lose an inordinate number of marks.

Questions are marked using an optical mark reader, leading to faster delivery of results to candidates.


The results lend themselves to statistical analysis. After each examination session, the paper is reviewed by an independent consultant in light of the actual candidate results. At that meeting, if any question has obviously proved too difficult or has confused the candidates, then it is disregarded so that candidates are not penalised.

Questions are amenable to item analysis, whereby they can be continually reviewed and improved.

In addition to sitting a multiple-choice examination, BSC DipSM candidates are also required to complete a cross-modular, work-based assignment which is used to assess a candidate’s the higher-order skills of ability to explain, evaluate and synthesise.

Objective testing examinations and cross-modular assignments combine to form a very powerful assessment tool.

Anyone wishing to find out more about British Safety Council examinations should visit the website:-

http://www.bscawards.org

Posted By Jay Joshi
The anamoly of 30 to 40 years cannot be resolved overnight, but hopefully at some time in future, the time scale of which is indeterminable, the DiPSM will be accredited by a nationally recognised accreditation body.

Apart from the content and training delivery of the DipSM, which easier to implement, there are several predominantly administrative hurdles to overcome to meet accreditation criteria.

After all, we are all working to improve health and safety in the workplace, and providing a means for achieving it.