I've submitted the post below in answer to a question on the Study forum - but thought my answer and thoughts should be discussed more widely: "I've said it before and I'll say it again here - what about the 50% you didn't know or could not answer. There is something very wrong with an exam which has a pass mark of 45% which, it appears, most candidates fail at the first attempt and subsequent attempts. I also believe 45% as a pass mark is ludicrous (so don't bother about the other 55%) which has to say something about the course content or the retentive memory of a lot of individuals or the strictness of the marking. I personally consider the Diploma a total joke and causes a huge amount of angst and frustration - and a lot of people suffer from exam nerves which is not helpful. So people out there, if you can, go down the NVQ5 route". Rich

When I went through - it was split into Part 1 and Part 2 Diploma. I did the Part 1 Diploma - no great problem. I refused to do the Part 2 Diploma as there was too much overlap with my other engineering qualifications - but greatly simplified for the Diploma. So why pay money for a lesser qualification? I decided to invest my time & money doing further safety & environmental courses via the Open University, which I think were/are far better value for money. I think I have been proved right, in that I have managed to now gain/get into the better paid oil & gas sector - which I wouldn't have done if I had stuck with he NEBOSH Diploma - as while it tries to cover the technical side of h&s, it does it badly. Moving away from NEBOSH/IOSH qualifications was the best career move/qualifcation move I ever made in terms of career progression. IOSH/NEBOSH is NOT the be all and end all of h&s. There are lots of people woking in Safety Engineering without NEBOSH qualifications - but do have engineering/technical qualifications. The 40-50% pass marks are common - but aspiring to a low pass mark isn't good!!

JJ Prendergast - I couldn't agree more - it has been said that IOSH hijacked NEBOSH and woe betide anyone who doesn't have it - certainly without it you can not be a member!! Rich

I don't have the NEBOSH Diploma, I am a Chartered Member. Your argument is flawed.

NEBOSH is not solely "controlled" by IOSH. It is an independent examination & awarding body and if anything, the proportion of IOSH representation on the NEBOSH Board has decreased when comparing it with what the IOSH representation was when NEBOSH was established. http://www.historyofnebosh.org.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEBOSH Any examination system threshold for pass/fail is determined by the "owner" (such as NEBOSH) of system, depending upon the criteria that should be open & transparent. The "essay-type" responses required for NEBOSH are not unique, but will be difficult for those who have not previously been exposed to it in secondary/tertiary/further education. The low pass rates could also be partially down to the quality of support/training from NEBOSH course providers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grading_on_a_curve

I am currently studying the diploma but my argument would be if the diploma is such a bad qualifcation in that you need only 45% to pass why do so many employers ask for the NEBOSH diploma. If it was that bad they would have kicked into touch and has rightly been said earlier a university degree you can obtain with a 45% passmark. Personally I rate the old apprenticeships more than a degree you neded 50% to pass and five years to become qualified but I am biased lol

I wonder whether the NEBOSH examination structure is that different from the other Professional Institutions. Certainly my past experience of the Insurance exams was very similar to NEBOSH: read the question, understand what the examiner wants to know and deliver the answer. Accountants, medics, lawyers and actuaries all have tough exam systems - why should H&S be different? The achievement of professional status in any field should mark real ability, part of which is a demonstration of underlying knowledge and NEBOSH Dip is one way of doing that in our chosen profession.

Not only for Health & Safety, but most, if not all, credible qualification awarding bodies, irrespective whether by examination/tests or vocational route (portfolio of evidence etc) ARE accredited in order to have public confidence. It is totally inaccurate to state the NEBOSH is an accreditation body. It is an awarding body that itself has been accredited by a nationally recognised accreditation body, i.e. OFQUAL etc.

SP900308 said "Being able to 'regurgitate' word for word the definition of a 'reasonable man' will not make me a better H&S practitioner!" Maybe not specifically in isolation;it is, though, an important concept to understand clearly. However, have you considered the importance of understanding relevant detail and accuracy in the work of many OSH practitioners; this maybe being an example? Exams are not always simply testing direct theoretical knowledge! As to pass marks. It is very easy to research pass marks in loads of study areas. Somewhere between 40-50% is very common as a minimum grade mark. As to pass rates. NEBOSH show a graph on their website. This shows that in the last recorded data for 2012 60+% of all who sat the exam achieved a pass.) Within that pass rate the following grades were awarded. Distinction Credit Pass Jul - Dec 12 6% 25% 69% Jan - Jun 13 5% 27% 68% Jul - Dec 13 2% 21% 77% Jan - Jun 14 6% 32% 61% That seems a pretty routine set of results and would not suggest anything especially difficult or awkward about the NEBOSH Diploma examination process. Interestingly NEBOSH were audited by OFQAL back in 2009 and the % of overall passes does show a reduction from that point. Maybe there was some strengthening of governance arising from that report that goes some way to explaining that reduction rather than any process issues? p48

We have been through such discussions previously. Although NEBOSH tends to dominate the awarding body market for Health and Safety qualifications, mainly at the "Certificate Level "( 3) , it has seen its share fall for the higher i.e Diploma Level as there are other routes, such as University Degrees and NVQ 5 underpinning entry requirements for GradIOSH and also the wider employment market. Although NEBOSH is widely known and there is, in my view, a false perception that, it is the "best" qualification, the perception is largely due to ignorance on the part of employers and employment agencies regarding other equivalent qualifications. I have personal experience in evolution of British Safety Council's Diploma Qualifications when I was with them from 1998 to 2004. Previously, the BSC Diploma was NOT recognised by IOSH, primarily due to its multiple choice type exam, despite the fact that post 1998 after being certificated for ISO 9000, its processes etc were extremely robust. During the same period, there was revision of Occupational Health & Safety Standards by ENTO that formed the basis for course content for BOTH NVQ 4 and NEBOSH & BSC Diplomas--the main difference being the assessment of the NVQs and exams for the Diplomas. Ultimately, BSC had to adjust its examination system to meet the then QCA (now Ofqual) requirements for an exam system at Level 6. Therefore, it is not only NEBOSH or BSC requirement for having a robust examination/assessment system, but also to meet the requirements of the accreditation body, Ofqual! We should be thankful that there is a choice of various routes to qualifications, each with its pro & cons, ultimately down to individuals to choose based on their background etc.

I took the Nebosh route and passed the Diploma with credit, but if a friend or colleague asked for advice I would tell them to steer well clear and go down another route. When the advice from tutors is study pass papers, it surely must set alarm bells ringing!! It is 100% wrong and would explain the poor advice often given out by "qualified pros". If the most important aspect of the exam is answering in a way and style the examiner wants, as opposed to demonstrating you know what you are actually talking about, I would suggest this is flawed. As said earlier I passed easily, but I am lucky to have a cracking memory and do well in exams, however I have worked with guys who passed the Diploma whom I would think twice about asking to unwrap an ice lolly, and sadly I have worked and studied with guys who failed whom I great respect and trust implicitly. Did the Diploma prepare me for the world of Safety Management, 100% no! As someone else said, qualifications are just the starting point. NEBOSH DIPLOMA = GOOD MEMORY SKILLS

You seem to create alot of posts that are critical or sometimes even mocking of the NEBOSH diploma...would you be so critical if you had actually attained the qualification...???

Jay wrote: Rich777 wrote: hilary wrote: I don't have the NEBOSH Diploma, I am a Chartered Member. Your argument is flawed. Good for you, so you passed the NVQ4 or as it is now 5 - or some such similar course as stated in the Membership tag above. Most if not all courses must be NEBOSH Accredited or similar or equivalent - so my argument is not flawed and is not nonsense. Rich Not only for Health & Safety, but most, if not all, credible qualification awarding bodies, irrespective whether by examination/tests or vocational route (portfolio of evidence etc) ARE accredited in order to have public confidence. It is totally inaccurate to state the NEBOSH is an accreditation body. It is an awarding body that itself has been accredited by a nationally recognised accreditation body, i.e. OFQUAL etc. Jay - semantics!! Not semantics at all, merely a statement of the truth. How difficult can it be to understand this. NEBOSH is not an accreditation body. It has no power to accredit anything. To state that any course be it NVQ5 or whatever has to be NEBOSH accrdited is totally wrong. When Hilary wrote that your argument was flawed she was completely correct. There are several ways to firstly become a member of IOSH and then progress through the membership structre and none of the are dependent on a NEBOSH qualification.

If writing a high level report is the hardest part of an exam, again I question the process. High level reporting should be a basic fundamental skill of anyone in management; this is not a demonstration of knowledge, and I would also add Unit D is a very poor example for a report in the first instance. In all my years in Management (safety and otherwise) if I had submitted a report in the style of NEBOSH, my MDs at the time would have chased me out the building.

Hi Please dont put word into my mouth. I simply said i really dont know what all the fuss is about. I also really cant grasp how it is so difficult for a safety professional to pass what is one of, if not the most relevant acedemic qualifiactions relating to the safety profession. You seem to spend alot of time critiscing the qualifiaction, you might want to ask yourself what is the real reason you feel the need to do so.

I have completed both the H&S and environmental diplomas so I think I am entitled to a view on them. To me the "diploma" is 50% memory test and 50% pot luck. The course content is so wide that most of it is only covered superficially by course providers. Going into any depth requires a huge amount of self study. This is especially true for the H&S diploma, less so for the environmental equivalent. There is also a huge amount of totally pointless content. A perfect example of this is the amount of case law that has to be committecd to memory. I can understand why I need to know that an extra duty of care is owed to people with a particular vulnerability but why do I need to know that it was Paris v Stepney Borough Council where that was first established. Most companies pay lawyers to know that stuff. Similarly, how many people use fault trees or event trees as their only problem solving or investigative technique, or ever think to use Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Heaven help you if you haven't learnt all this by rote, because you will need it for NEBOSH. Of course you will never need it again afterwards. For those with a prodigous memory, or as in my case those who were lucky in their choice of which parts to concentrate on, the diploma can be completed in less than a year. for what is is supposed to be a flagship qualification for a "professional" body, this is far to short a period. To sum up, I do not believe the NEBOSH diploma deserves to hold the postion that it does. It has too much reliance on questions being answered in a particular way, a large amount of the content is irrrelevant to most H&S practioners and it is paced way too high in the national curriculum framework.

Read PL53 post which is indicative of a lot of posts on this thread. If people continually accepted the status quo without question then progress would be stymied and courses like the diploma (content particularly as highlighted by PL53) would continue causing frustration to an awful lot of members. Congratulations Stonecold on passing first time and no I am not on a mission to discredit the course the folk who designed it have already discredited it. Rich

Surely what is expected, whatever route gets you there is competence. Guidance asks for an employer to seek competent advice. Which is explained by the HSE as: The combination of training, skills, experience and knowledge that a person has and their ability to apply them to perform a task. Both academic routes complement but also on their own do not imply competency. I liken it to a driving test, you are able to drive after X number of lessons and a test but you actually are only competent to drive after gaining experience that goes with the training.

I was taught a lot of stuff in school and college which at the time I thought pointless and unnecessary, now I wish I had paid a bit more attention. I still hope one day to be able to work something useful out using differentiation or integration. I’m sure at O level a grade C was considered a pass, and I think (stand to be corrected) that was set at 50%. This does seem to be reasonably consistent through life. The other 50%, well aren’t we supposed to learn by our mistakes and improve ourselves. On the Diploma we asked our tutor about the NEBOSH language and why if we could describe adequately what we were talking about, did we need to use the correct word. The answer was that although you would adjust your language to suit the group you were talking too, as safety professionals don’t you think you should use the correct term, especially if talking to your equals. Rightly or wrongly that was the answer we were given. We do enjoy free choice, so I guess if you feel strongly that NEBOSH Dip is a sham then I guess you may be better taking a different route to wherever you are going. I guess if enough people do this it will send a message. I found the Diploma hard, mainly having to learn all this stuff in my 40’s while holding down a full time job, but glad I did it. Quite a sense of achievement, with distinctions in some parts and passes in others. I feel it gave me a small insight to industries and areas other than the one I was currently working in. Having not done the NVQ I can’t say if that is the same, I hope it is ( but I suspect not) as I found it interesting. Chris

Never having gained the cert or diploma I may not be best placed to make a comment on NEBOSH courses. However, I have gained two cognate Masters degrees in h&s where the pass mark for a submission was 50%. Sometimes I thought I had done a good paper and got a poor mark and vice versa. I recall the Vice Chancellor at my first graduation saying a Masters degree is not easy, they were never supposed to be, otherwise everyone would have one.