NEBOSH Exams

Health and Safety Training Revision

Those taking accredited health and safety qualifications from awarding bodies such as NEBOSH or IOSH will have assessments/exams at the end of the course which need to be passed in order to gain the respective qualifications. Effective revision and study will give you a much better chance of gaining a good mark.

A health and safety training course is likely to have bombarded the delegate with a raft of important information. Unless you have a photographic memory, then not all of it will have been retained at the time of the course, particularly if it was detailed information like specific pieces of health and safety legislation. This means revision needs to be done to re-learn the information that has been temporarily forgotten.

Often, these exams will be the first written examinations that most people will have had to face since leaving school (which may have been a number of years ago!), and it is all too easy to forget proper revision techniques which give you the best chance of retaining the information for the exam. Factors such as the conditions of the study area, the amount of time dedicated to revision, the organisation and availability of course notes and study books all play a part in the success, or failure, of the revision.

Those who do not do a sufficient amount, or indeed any revision whatsoever, run the risk of failing the assessment and having to do an expensive exam resit, so it is best to put in the effort first time to pass the examinations/projects and avoid the need to pay out any more money on top of the price for the health and safety training course itself. As well as the cost, there are also time considerations to take into account. Some of the health and safety awarding bodies can take 2-3 months to issue results. If you fail and then have to wait for the next exam sitting, and then wait again for the results, this can all add up to a lengthy spell of time. You may need the qualification for current or future employment, and not passing first time could cause problems for you in the future. So it is best to put in the effort now and get the exam passed, rather than having to go down the re-sit route and having to go through it all again.

Health and Safety Training and Testing

The ultimate aim of providing health and safety training to workers is to give them the knowledge and awareness of the risks that they may encounter whilst at work, and how to work safely in a way which minimises the chance of an accident or incident occurring that could cause serious injury or death to themselves or others.

This means that it is imperative to ensure that not only do those delegates on the course pay attention to what is being taught, but also that the information and knowledge being imparted is being understood and retained, which is where testing and assessments come in. Simply sitting through the course and not taking anything in will not achieve the desired aim of making the workplace safer. By testing course attendees at the end of the training, it will demonstrate and prove that the individual has understood the information and so will then be able to use it when back in the workplace.

Many accredited heath and safety qualifications including the NEBOSH General Certificate have assessments and/or exams at the end to ensure that only those who have retained a sufficient amount of information obtain the qualification.

Whilst assessments at the end are fine at that moment in time, people can and do forget things, and fall back into bad and unsafe working practices. Regular health and safety refresher training along with periodic testing can ensure that workers have the correct safety information and procedures at the forefront of their mind whilst they perform their workplace activities.