Earlier this year (2016) NEBOSH and BCSP (Board of Certified Safety Professionals) signed a memorandum of understanding. Recognising each other’s qualifications and allowing exemptions for those NEBOSH Diploma holders wanting to obtain the CSP (Certified Safety Practitioner) qualification.
CSP holders waning to attain the NEBOSH Diploma
Ordinarily you’d have to take a full course of study from an approved course provider (like RRC) to be able to sit the NEBOSH exams. But the agreement between NEBOSH and BCSP means that you don’t have to. In practice, whilst there’s some overlap in course coverage between CSP and the NEBOSH’s Health and Safety Diplomas, there’s a lot that’s different. Added to that there are two versions of the NEBOSH Health and Safety Diploma. One for the UK and one for International.
It’s pretty obvious that you’d probably just be setting yourself up for failure if you didn’t at least review the NEBOSH diploma content. Concentrating specifically on the bits that are different, and practice some exam-style questions too. I know that sounds dull after already achieving your CSP, but I hope that sounds sensible.
We at RRC like to cooperate, so we’ve also got a special deal. We give you access to our full E-Learning diploma programme (national or international – it’s your choice) for a substantial discount. The course includes all the content you’ll need, unlimited access to an online tutor and exam fees. We think, with all the safety knowledge from your CSP and your experience, you’ll study and get through your diploma faster than average.
So, what do you need to do?
1. Decide Which Diploma you want to Study
You need to decide what version of the Diploma you want to do – National or International Diploma.
- National Diploma – if you’re most likely to be working in the UK. It’s got quite a lot of UK law in it which may be a challenge if you have no experience of UK law..
- International Diploma – if you’re mostly working outside the UK. It’s based on principles and has very little in the way of law. The idea is that you’d top it up by finding out the relevant laws in the country you are operating in (though that isn’t examined).
If you’re doing significant amounts of working in both areas, probably best to go for the National Diploma. Both qualifications are very much aligned in terms of topics and principles (that’s deliberate). Both are divided into 4 units (A, B, C, D). Both are assessed in the same way – 3 x 3 hour exams plus one assignment.
2. Get the NEBOSH BSCP guide, designed just for you
You can download NEBOSH’s guide for you here.
3. Learn how to Map read
Save yourself some time and go straight to Part 3 of that NEBOSH BSCP guide – that’s the bit that especially applies to you (you can read the rest if you really want to, but it’s not going to change your life). It contains a mapping document, that maps what you already have (CSP) to the NEBOSH Diploma).
If you’ve decided to do National Diploma, look at the mapping document section 3.7. Otherwise it’s section 3.8 you need for international.
These are going to be very helpful maps to help you concentrate your efforts on the things that are going to make the difference.
For both mapping documents it’s the same idea. They use a traffic light system. Anything flagged in red (or “3”) means it’s probably going to be very new to you. That means you need to put more effort into studying that when going through our course material. Anything in green should be familiar to you – well, at least you should have studied it, even if you can’t remember doing it.
4. Get started
RRC course content follows the syllabus very closely, so that map will work when you study your course. Any problems your RRC tutor is on hand to help.
5. Practice
Prepare for your exams and assignments. Exam revision and preparation is more than just studying. You need to get practice retrieving and applying knowledge under exam conditions. We give you mock exams, past exam style questions and a tutor that not only looks like they care (difficult by email) but actually does.
Dr David Towlson, BSc, PhD, CMIOSH, AIEMA, Cert Ed (PCET)
RRC’s Director of Training and Quality
