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NEBOSH Diploma unit A - summary1

NEBOSH Diploma unit A Managing health and safety

The route through your Diploma studies is driven by the syllabus (Guide) which you can obtain from the Student area of the NEBOSH website.

Look for the page entitled:

NEBOSH Diploma publications - free of charge

... and on that page you will see a ZIP file entitled National Diploma Publications; one click and you instantly download all the files (the Guide, examinations, examiners reports etc) that are currently freely available. (Its worth checking back every now and then on this ZIP file to see if any new items have been added.)

When we last checked, the link was:

https://www.nebosh.org.uk/students/currently_studying/default.asp?cref=1044&ct=2

We dont know if earlier items will be withdrawn as new items are added, so make sure you download everything you can because you dont want to loose access to the examiners reports of a few years ago.

Our unit A study material parallels the syllabus, element by element, and each element (ten in total) is accompanied by an electronic sheet of hyperlinks which lead you on to external sources of information. Most of the links are absolutely essential to your study, only a few are provided for those who want to read more on a particular subject ....

As well as the free-to-download copies of the unit A examiners reports which we have mentioned above, you might want to separately obtain copies of earlier Diploma examinations and the subsequent examiners reports; you could even go back as far as July 2005 when the subject coverage was much the same as that of the present syllabus which we will call syllabus 2011.

Familiarity with past examination questions is, so often, the difference between success and failure. You simply must look through the examiners reports in conjunction with our analysis - a separate document in your study material.

Our firm conviction is that if you should go into the examination with well prepared answers for four or five past papers. NEBOSH strongly discourage rote learning, particularly at Diploma level, and claim that their questions are always new - and indeed they are, particularly in the present period of a major revision to HSG 65 and various moves towards bringing together the UK National Diploma and the International Diploma.

Our view is that a prepared answer is like an adjustable spanner - it may not fit exactly but, if you have it with you ...

NEBOSH Diploma Guide to syllabus 2011

Diploma unit A analysis of past papers

... continued ...

On the subject of the impending revision of HSG 65, please see page 5 of the present leaflet.

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NEBOSH Diploma unit A - summary2

... continued ...

A3 Measuring and reviewing health and safety performance

A1 Principles of health and safety management

... the study material for this element together with its associated electronic hyperlink sheet ... as you will see, this is the basic cell which is repeated throughout the elements of units A, B and C

Contents of unit A

A2 Loss causation and incident investigation

... please note that RIDDOR 2013, which came into force in the autumn of 2013, is discussed in the A2 hyperlink sheet

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NEBOSH Diploma unit A - summary3

Company policy statement - this document relates particularly to elements A4, A5 and A6

A4 Identifying hazards, assessing and evaluating risks

A5 Risk control

A6 Organisational factors

this element is subdivided into five parts

remember that the past papers should be a constant companion throughout your studies, not just in the week(s) before the examination

... continued ...

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NEBOSH Diploma unit A - summary4

A7 Human factors

Report on the blast furnace explosion in 2001 at the Corus plant in Port Talbot

A8 Principles of health and safety law A9 Criminal lawA10 Civil law

these three elements are served by one hyperlink sheet and by a separate case law document

Case law

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NEBOSH Diploma unit A - summary5

HSG 65, the situation as of late 2013 ...

The new version of HSG 65 is expected late in 2013 / early 2014 - the link below provides details, explaining that ...

... HSEs guidance on managing for health and safety has moved from using the POPMAR (Policy, Organising, Planning, Measuring performance, Auditing and Review) model to a Plan, Do, Check, Act approach.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg65.htm

So, even before you have looked in detail at POPMAR we are telling you that this approach will soon be replaced - not exactly what you want to hear so early in your studies. Have no fear about wasting your study time, POPMAR and Plan, Do, Check, Act closely parallel one another.

What about the examinations of January 2014 (and perhaps July 2014)? ...

... Presumably, NEBOSH will not ask specific HSG 65 questions in the present situation; however, the new version of HSG 65 will be aligned with the BS OHSAS 18001 model so perhaps NEBOSH could ask a question on this instead.

As you will see when you follow the link above, while the new edition of HSG 65 is being produced, you can find the refreshed guidance at Managing for health and safety:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/managing/index.htm

This website provides overarching guidance on health and safety management that can be applied to any large or complex organisation. It explains the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach and includes:

the core elements of managing for health and safety

deciding if you are doing what you need to do

delivering effective arrangements

useful resources

Finally, we would like to draw your attention to a helpful RoSPA blog by Roger Bibbings, complete with a nice retro piece of design; see:

http://rospaworkplacesafety.com/2013/09/17/whats-happened-to-hsg65-and-popimar/

This is well worth 10 minutes of your time.

the (soon to be) previous version of HSG 65