Level 7 Strategic Health and Safety Diploma

Yes. Level 7 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework is the same level as a master's degree. It is a competence qualification rather than an academic one, so it proves you can set and lead health and safety strategy rather than that you have studied it, which is what a board or a client wants from the person in that seat.

The Level 6 is assessed on owning the health and safety system for one organisation or business unit: the policy, the risk controls, the monitoring, the reviews. The Level 7 is assessed on strategy across the business: a risk based management system, the culture and sustainability case, digital technology, business risk at board level, and your own development as a strategic manager. If that is your week, the Level 7 records it. If someone above you sets the strategy, the Level 6 is the honest fit. The initial assessment on this page tells you which before you pay.

ProQual call it a Diploma rather than an NVQ because some of the units ask you to evaluate and analyse as well as do. It is assessed the same way: a portfolio of your own evidence, a written evaluation where a unit asks for analysis, and professional discussions with your assessor. There is no exam, no classroom and no set assignments to copy from a textbook.

No. ProQual set no formal entry requirement beyond being 19 or over. Most people at this level already hold a Level 6 NVQ, a NEBOSH Diploma or a degree, and it helps, but what the qualification is assessed on is the strategic role you hold now. If you do not yet hold a Level 6 and you run the system rather than set the strategy, do the Level 6 first.

As long as you take. There is no fixed duration, no cohort and no term dates: you register any week and the qualification is led by you. Most senior people finish inside a year alongside the job, and someone with a documented strategy, a recent ISO 45001 audit and a board reporting cycle to draw on can be much quicker.

Documents you already produce: the health and safety strategy and management system, ISO 45001 gap analyses and audit reports, board papers and strategic risk registers, culture surveys and leadership programmes, the sustainability and wellbeing business case, investigation reports and the technology used in them, business risk management processes, your own development plan. Where a unit asks you to evaluate something, such as the effect of globalisation or digital technology on safety performance, you write that evaluation about your own business. Your assessor maps each item to a unit and tells you what is missing.

Yes to the card. CSCS list this qualification by name in their own Card Finder against the occupation Senior Construction Health and Safety Manager, and it returns the Black Manager card; you need the certificate and a pass in the CITB Managers and Professionals test within the last two years. IOSH membership is a separate application, assessed by IOSH on your qualifications and experience together rather than on the certificate alone.

Yes. Employers can be invoiced and interest free instalments are available on every qualification. CITB no longer grant support Level 7 qualifications for new starts, so do not budget on that. ELCAS funding may apply if you are a service leaver or veteran. We check what applies to you before you commit.