New NEBOSH Fire Certificate course

[stephen1974]

Just had an e-mail this morning saying NEBOSH has changed the way it does its Fire Certificate. YAY.

Its now open book and can be done from home. YAY.

For those like me that never learnt NEBOSH as a 2nd language, all I can say is. YAY.


I'm sure there will be those who don't like this and I understand why, but in the modern digital world there is no need to memorise and repeat back verbatim every detail of every fire reg and guidance ever put on paper.

[EagleBeagle]

If you check your emails again soon, I believe you will find that the vaunted Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety is now also undergoing a significant change with an OBE portion from what I read. It should take a little of the massive workload and pressure out of it, and relate it back to the modern EHS working environment.

It's a bit disappointing having only recently received the Diploma after three years of very hard graft and a couple of very shaky "dark nights of the soul" where I didn't see any parchment at the end of the tunnel any time soon! However, I wouldn't begrudge anyone and hopefully the qualification remains as valued by industry, provides the same level of knowledge, and will be respected by those who undertake it.

[Blackstone]

Didn't mind the "NEBOSH talk" way when i did my Gen Cert personally. Mind you at the time, it was the first bit of proper learning i had done for many years!

Was thinking of doing the diploma recent so might just hold off for a little while

[witsd]

The NEBOSH exams were... well, there's no way I can describe them without getting in trouble here!

The requirement to word things in a super-precise way or get severely penalised was awful, the oppressive time-limit / amount of writing necessary was awful and the 2-3 month wait for results was awful.

And for the record, I passed my fire and gen first time!

Compared to other courses that have been open book for years, have no time limit and will actually look at the knowledge and 'spirit' of what the candidate has written the NEBOSH exams looked antiquated and didn't reflect the real world at all.

Thank heavens that NEBOSH finally appear to be relaxing somewhat.

[EagleBeagle]

The NEBOSH exams were... well, there's no way I can describe them without getting in trouble here!

The requirement to word things in a super-precise way or get severely penalised was awful, the oppressive time-limit / amount of writing necessary was awful and the 2-3 month wait for results was awful.

And for the record, I passed my fire and gen first time!

Compared to other courses that have been open book for years, have no time limit and will actually look at the knowledge and 'spirit' of what the candidate has written the NEBOSH exams looked antiquated and didn't reflect the real world at all.

Thank heavens that NEBOSH finally appear to be relaxing somewhat.

Exactly, I think every safety professional I know that's crossed their path is almost traumatised in some way due to the excruciating nature of the examinations. I would add the relatively high financial cost to that list of pain combined with that 3 month wait to have any indication of how your performed


I carried on into a Masters after it this year and compared to NEBOSH it's a doddle. Even where it's not open book, you're assessed on the basis of the knowledge in your answers regardless of your style of writing and not on providing a narrow list of potential control measures for particular scenario questions.

The level of detail in their courses is excellent in my view, but they need to find better (less rigid) ways of assessing it.

[quality_somerset]

To be fair NEBOSH are only changing because they have been put under pressure from NCRQ, i'm guessing that they have lost quite a bit of business and have decided to try and stem the flow of lost business.

I have a foot in both camps, and although I have the NCRQ Diploma I do feel that I have missed out by not going down the NEBOSH route.

[Blackstone]

I personally didn't find the NEBOSH gen cert examines particularly bad. Yes you've got to answer in certain way but if you know the subject...

In saying that, i know some on the course with me did struggle. One guy struggled to write and literally failed as he physically couldn't write the answers quick enough

[EagleBeagle]

To be fair NEBOSH are only changing because they have been put under pressure from NCRQ, i'm guessing that they have lost quite a bit of business and have decided to try and stem the flow of lost business.

I have a foot in both camps, and although I have the NCRQ Diploma I do feel that I have missed out by not going down the NEBOSH route.

Its good that they're changing to adapt to the other vocational awards that are coming out in health and safety. I only had a foot in one camp, if it was a realistic option at the time I'd have preferred a more practical/vocation route.

I know with my previous qualifications that quoting legislation and reaming out standardised control measures did not for one second make me a better safety practitioner. In fact, in some cases I think it can very poorly (and narrowly) prepare people for the work place.

[stephen1974]

The issue I have with those who just learn to repeat the legislation parrot fashion is that they don't know how to implement health and safety. They expect a "competent person" to figure out how to complay with what ever they've been told to comply with but the reality is, whilst a person may be competent doing a certain job or using cetain equipment, they dont understand how to translate that in to health and safety practices and documentation.

I've twice fallen foul of consultants "paperwork" which simply isn't fit for purpose but i've been forced to use by a company.

[witsd]

I personally didn't find the NEBOSH gen cert examines particularly bad. Yes you've got to answer in certain way but if you know the subject...

In saying that, i know some on the course with me did struggle. One guy struggled to write and literally failed as he physically couldn't write the answers quick enough

I remember my right hand feeling like it was going to fall off after doing one three hour exam, and knowing that I had another in the afternoon of the same day. That was hellish, and kinda ironic.

[EagleBeagle]

I personally didn't find the NEBOSH gen cert examines particularly bad. Yes you've got to answer in certain way but if you know the subject...

In saying that, i know some on the course with me did struggle. One guy struggled to write and literally failed as he physically couldn't write the answers quick enough

I remember my right hand feeling like it was going to fall off after doing one three hour exam, and knowing that I had another in the afternoon of the same day. That was hellish, and kinda ironic.

I know that feeling! I thought it was designed to stress the importance of not underestimating WRULDs!

[Alexis]