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NEBOSH Health and Safety at Work Award
The NEBOSH Award level entry point. Three days, no examination, and a practical workplace based review instead. A sensible run up to the General Certificate for anybody not ready to commit to it yet.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our Health and Safety at Work Award different
About this course
The NEBOSH Health and Safety at Work Award is a practical introduction to workplace health and safety for people who need a clear understanding of risk, responsibilities and safe working practice as part of a wider job. NEBOSH describe it as an introductory qualification relevant to all industry sectors.
It is the qualification we recommend most often to people who know they want to understand health and safety properly but are not yet sure they want to commit to the National General Certificate. Three days, no written examination, and an assessment method that is genuinely useful rather than a memory test.
It covers the foundations: why health and safety matters, the responsibilities that sit with employers and with workers, how hazards are identified and risks assessed, the common workplace hazards and their controls, and how incidents get investigated and reported.
Assessment is a practical workplace based review. You look at a real workplace, identify what is there, and produce a piece of work about it. That means you need access to a suitable workplace, and it also means you leave having done something your employer can use.
Plenty of people take this and then move up to the National General Certificate a year later, and they find the step much shorter than they expected. Others stop here, because for a team leader, an HR professional or a facilities manager this is often the right amount of health and safety.
- Why health and safety matters, in moral, legal and financial terms
- Who is responsible for what: employers, managers, workers and contractors
- Identifying hazards in a real workplace, including the ones familiarity hides
- Assessing risk and choosing proportionate controls
- The common workplace hazards and the controls that go with each
- Safe systems of work, permits and procedures in outline
- Incident and near miss reporting, and why the near misses matter more
- Investigating what went wrong well enough to stop it happening again
How completing this course helps you
- The NEBOSH Health and Safety at Work Award, graded Pass or Refer
- A recognised NEBOSH qualification without committing to certificate level
- A practical piece of workplace review work your employer can actually use
- A much shorter step to the National General Certificate if you go on to it
- Three days rather than 80 to 130 guided learning hours
Who should attend?
Team leaders, supervisors, HR professionals, facilities managers and anybody supporting workplace compliance and standards who needs a solid grounding rather than a professional qualification. It also suits people considering a health and safety career who want to test the water before committing to the General Certificate.
Entry requirements. None. No previous health and safety experience is required. You do need access to a suitable workplace, because the assessment is a workplace based review rather than a written paper.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Award or Certificate
Is the Award enough, or do you need the Certificate?
It depends entirely on what the qualification is for. If somebody wants to understand health and safety well enough to do their job properly, and health and safety is not their job, this Award is usually the right answer and three days is the right amount of time.
If the qualification is going on a CV for a health and safety role, or is meant to satisfy an employer, a client or an insurer looking for a competent person, it is the National General Certificate they mean. Award level qualifications do not carry that weight and it is better to know that now.
The two are not in competition. This Award is a genuinely good run up: it covers the foundations, it gets you back into studying, and candidates who go on to the Certificate afterwards consistently find the step shorter than they feared.
Understanding health and safety for your own role
This Award. Three days, no exam, and a practical piece of work at the end.
Managing a team
IOSH Managing Safely, three days, aimed at line managers specifically.
A health and safety career, or a competent person role
The NEBOSH National General Certificate. Longer, harder, and the one employers name.
Course content
What you will cover
Health and safety at work
- Why health and safety matters: moral, legal and financial
- Responsibilities of employers, managers and workers
- Identifying hazards in the workplace
- Assessing risk and selecting controls
- Common workplace hazards and their control measures
- Safe systems of work in outline
- Incident and near miss reporting
- Basic incident investigation
Method of assessment
How the Health and Safety at Work Award is assessed
A practical workplace based review. There is no written examination.
Practical workplace based review
You examine a real workplace, identify what is there and produce a piece of work about it. That is why workplace access is needed, and it is also why the output tends to be useful to the employer.
No written exam
There is no closed book paper on this qualification, which is one of the reasons people who have been out of formal study for a while choose it.
Results
Graded Pass or Refer, typically returned within 22 working days.
Ways to learn
How you can take this course
Every route covers the same accredited syllabus and the same support. Pick the one that fits how your people work.
Classroom
Tutor-led at one of our centres, with everything provided.
Ask us to open a classroom date →or ask MB nowLive online
The same tutor and the same timetable, joined from anywhere.
Ask us to open a live online date →or ask MB nowDates and locations
Arrange this course
There are no scheduled dates for this course at the moment. It is normally arranged around you.
Tell us roughly when you need it and how many people are going, and we will come back with dates and a price.
Also available
In-company training
We run this one to order, at your place or ours.
Onsite / in-company
Run Health and Safety at Work Award at your site
We deliver anywhere in the UK, on your dates and around your shift patterns. For six or more people it is usually cheaper per head than sending everyone to a centre, and nobody loses a day travelling.
Tell us roughly how many people and when, and we will come back with options and a price, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
What onsite includes
- The same tutor, materials and certification as our centres
- Your venue or one we arrange near you
- Dates and start times built around your operation
- One invoice and one point of contact for the whole group
- Content examples drawn from your own workplace
Health and Safety at Work Award FAQs
A three day introductory NEBOSH qualification covering risk, responsibilities and safe working practice. NEBOSH describe it as relevant to all industry sectors and suitable for anybody who needs to understand health and safety principles as part of their job.
No. It is assessed by a practical workplace based review rather than a written paper, which is one of the main reasons people choose it over certificate level study.
Yes. The assessment is a review of a real workplace, so you need somewhere suitable to carry it out. Tell us at the enquiry stage if that is difficult and we will work through the options with you.
Pass or Refer, typically returned within 22 working days. Award level NEBOSH qualifications are not graded Pass, Credit or Distinction: that applies to certificate level qualifications such as the National General Certificate.
Usually not on its own. Health and safety roles almost always name the National General Certificate. This Award is the right qualification for somebody who needs to understand health and safety for a wider job, and a good stepping stone if a career move follows.
Plenty of people do, and they tend to find the Certificate much less daunting for having done it. If you are already confident and know you want the Certificate, go straight there. If you have been out of study for a while, this is a sensible way back in.
Yes, nationwide. For a group of supervisors or team leaders it is usually the most practical option, and the workplace review can then be done in your own building.
Yes. Gold is the top NEBOSH learning partner tier and it is awarded by NEBOSH against their own criteria for delivery, support and learner experience. It is not a self declared badge.
A named Individual Learning Advisor and our embedded eLearning portal. The advisor plans 1:1 sessions around the assessment points, reviews your progress and prepares you for submission. The portal carries structured revision and study material you can use in your own time.
Yes. Acadame is an ELCAS approved provider and NEBOSH qualifications are eligible, so Enhanced Learning Credits can be put towards the course. Mention it when you enquire and we will handle the paperwork with you rather than sending you away to work it out.
Our centres in Stoke-on-Trent, Derby, Manchester and Liverpool, live online from the UK, and onsite at employers’ own premises nationwide. Through our partner network we can also open up local options where none of those suit.
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