Hello all,

I work for a company which supplies the manufacturing industry. We have 100+ employees in the UK across four manufacturing sites. The health and safety department for the company is represented by two employees – my manager (health and safety manager) and myself (supporting the manager in an administrative capacity).

I am based 100% in the office and do not have any hands-on experience of the work that is carried out in our factories. I am conscious of how this limits my understanding (my manager used to work on the shop floor) so I am trying to communicate frequently with safety representatives based at each of the sites who are actually involved with the work, as well as involve myself more with site inspections, audits etc. so I can become more familiar with the site, the machinery and the processes.

Though I am not a manager myself, I am familiar with health and safety legislation and deal with a lot of paperwork relating to safety procedures and risk assessments in our workplace. My manager agreed to let me study for IOSH Managing Safely – I really enjoyed the course and it has enthused me to continue studying. I would be interested in a health and safety qualification which could put me firmly on the path of pursuing a career in health and safety. I am experiencing some friction with my manager over this as they have not yet completed their NEBOSH. I am considering the option of financing my own further study if this continues to be an issue.

I have been looking at NEBOSH and NCRQ. I am aware NEBOSH is the more traditional exam-based way of learning whereas NCRQ is a more modern and varied approach. I am really interested in NCRQ as the assessment structure sounds like it is intended to be reflective of how work is actually carried out in health and safety.

So, I am trying to work out which level of study would be suitable for someone entering the sphere of health and safety management with only office-based, administrative experience thus far.

Is the NCRQ diploma a direct equivalent to the NEBOSH diploma? All the NCRQ options seem to result in a level 6 qualification – what NEBOSH qualification would be comparable to the NCRQ level 6 certificate? Does the full NCRQ diploma include the certificate or do they need to be taken separately?

If anyone can share their experience of either course, or knows more about the structure/comparability of each course, or just has any helpful advice about what direction to go in after IOSH Managing Safely, it would be very much appreciated!

The first thing we need to do is to clarify the difference been an exam based qualifications such as NEBOSH/NCRQ and NVQ. When you do an exam based qualification it is supposed to work in the following order: do the courseèpass the exam è apply the knowledge . NVQ is based on the idea that for many  people  what happens is that they apply the knowledge/do the job è thus learn the skills   è  so what NVQ does is to enable them to demonstrate what they know. So its basically the other way around from the exam based approach

NCRQ is still an exam based system but the learning rather than consisting of separate modules-LAW;RISK ASSESSMENT; HAZARD SPOTTING etc consists mainly “real life” case studies which you  investigate and you learn by investigating.  

I self funded both my NEBOSH general and fire certificates with next to no health and safety experience at all after being put through Managing Safely, picking up what I could wherer I could ( employer wouldn't entertain further stdy for me), however I cope fairly well with exam conditions and coursework- once in my first H&S role I self funded my Diploma and haven't looked back.

I would advise you consider your learning style and your circumstances, both in an out of work when looking at any further study- can you put in the time outside of work where needed, are you going to be able to provide suitable and sufficient evidence within the work place for NVQ modules, is there support in the workplace, if self funding are there any finiacial considerations as some courses are fairly costly.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the very best of luck!