I have both, and the fire. I started with the general which got me my first full time H&S position, this was in construction. I then did the construcion cert as although the general covers quite a bit of construction it is not enough imo, that and construction companies want to see the construction certificate. I then did the fire, why? because like the construction - it is aimed at that specialism, again the general covers a lot of fire related topics but not enough. You can never have too many qualifications.

Hi Kofi Until a few years ago the construction certificate was 5 or 6 weeks long - with an exemption from 2 weeks for those who held the General Certificate. Not a lot of take up for this 5-6 weeks training It took a lot of pressure from IOSH and in particular the Construction Specialist Group to influence NEBOSH to draw up a new Construction Certificate that parallels the General, but with emphasis on sector specific issues and a practical that is not about identifying issues in an engineering workshop. As you indicate most of the topics are the same for reasons that IOSH pointed out as part of the argument for a Certificate that would get better take up. If you are looking to extend your qualifications, I'd suggest an alternate route to the General Certificate.