Global Asbestos Awareness week, (1st – 7th April), was established to raise awareness surrounding the illnesses and consequential deaths that asbestos causes. Although it has been banned in the U.K. since 1999, there are over 1.5 million buildings in the UK that may contain asbestos (UKATA, 2019). Buildings erected pre-1999 can have dormant asbestos within their foundations, and can be accidentally disturbed during renovations or repairs. Unfortunately, asbestos is still legal in many countries around the world. What is Asbestos? Asbestos is a term for a group of minerals made of microscopic fibres. If you breathe in these fibres, they can damage your lungs (British Lung Foundation, 2019). Asbestos is…
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NEBOSH Additional Support for Exams Explained
Wondering whether additional support or special considerations are available for NEBOSH Exams? NEBOSH and RRC have a duty to ensure all candidates can take their assessments in a way most appropriate to their personal needs. We do that by making access or Reasonable Adjustments (RA) before an exam. Or alternatively, we ask NEBOSH to grant Special Consideration (SC) to assessment results. For more information, here is the NEBOSH Policy on access arrangements: https://www.nebosh.org.uk/policies-and-procedures/policy-and-procedures-for-access-arrangements-reasonable/ Reasonable Adjustments (RA) If candidates are aware of factors that will affect their performance during exams, RRC can apply for Reasonable Adjustments on their behalf. Any adjustments are agreed before the assessment takes place. Candidates must inform RRC at…
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NEBOSH Health & Safety Leadership Excellence – What Drives People?
I found myself in front of a group of senior execs a few weeks ago talking about the influence that they have on the safety culture of their organisations, and consequently the safety-related behaviours of their workers. The course was the new NEBOSH / HSE Health and Safety Leadership Excellence course. This is an ideas-rich one day introduction to the principles of health and safety leadership. It has a heavy emphasis on human factors and is more concerned with leadership styles and the psychology of decision-making than it is with the nuts and bolts of safety management. I blogged about certain aspects of the course a few months ago (see…
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Mental Health Awareness Within H&S and The Workplace
Health and Safety Workplace Cultures Naturally Mental Health issues can occur throughout all workplaces and industries. Poor mental health can affect any one of us. However, within the Health and Safety industries, there are some environments where raising concern about these issues is difficult. For example, within the Construction Industry there is a workplace culture which draws on ‘’traditional masculinity’’. This culture can be seen across the Health and Safety industries. For instance, Referenced from The SHP Road to Well-Being eBook: ”Referencing Robin Ely of Harvard Business School: Macho Culture is also endangering the workplace by creating a culture where people felt they “had to prove themselves” rather than assess…
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The First Step to a Career in Environmental Management
I can’t believe that I have been working as an environmental management consultant and trainer for twenty years. Much like a professional footballer who is playing in his early thirties (I wish) I have achieved veteran status! My career has had its up and downs over the years. But I do not regret it for one minute. When considering the content for this post I thought I would identify what can be more challenging from my experience than carrying out a job. And that is getting a job in environmental management in the first place. The problem is that in competitive job markets, in order to be successful you need…
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Thinking About a Career in Health and Safety?
Careering into it As a health and safety tutor I routinely meet people who already work in the field of occupational health and safety (OHS). And one thing that always strikes me is that they are a diverse bunch with a very wide range of ages, educational backgrounds, workplaces and work/ life experiences. From 21 to over normal retirement age. From left school at 16 with diddly-squat to PhDs in biomechanical engineering. From building society office to offshore oil and gas platform. From none at all to 35 years in the chemical engineering and manufacturing industries. And some of them have had life experiences that have made the hairs on…
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Hints and Tips to Gain a Good Mark for NEBOSH Environmental Diploma Project
In this post I thought that we could look at some good practices with regards to the NEBOSH Diploma in Environmental Management project (known as NDEM2). For this assessment NEBOSH require you to review and critic an organisations environmental management system (EMS). The assignment is required to be approximately 8000 words and must be submitted to NEBOSH electronically. The pass mark is 50%. The Guide Although what NEBOSH requires sounds relatively straight forward to interpret, in practice there is a very specific format with regards to issues that are required to be covered. Therefore, one of the first things you MUST do is to download and thoroughly read the NDEM2 assignment…
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NEBOSH Environmental Certificate Practical Assessment – Passing First Time
In this post I thought we could look at what you need to do to get a good mark in the NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management practical assignment (called in NEBOSH speak EC2). The assignment pass mark is 60% and you complete the assignment on your own and as such there is no set duration, although NEBOSH state it should probably take around 3 hours. There are two parts to the assignment these are completion of a NEBOSH provided review questionnaire followed by a report. 100 marks are available in total. Read the Guidance The first action you MUST complete is having a good look at the guidance available for…
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IEMA Vs NEBOSH
Which Environmental Qualification is right for you In this post I thought we could look at IEMA and NEBOSH approaches to environmental management qualifications. By comparing the two approaches at the foundation and advanced levels it might help you choose which is best for you if you want to undertake a formalised environmental management qualification. Foundation Level Firstly, let’s look at the foundation level. These are a good place to start if you have no formal knowledge of environmental management and provide a solid foundation in environmental management. At this level we have the IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management and the NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management (we will call…
