One of the most widely respected health and safety qualifications in the world, the NEBOSH National General Certificate is  designed for those responsible for health and safety in the workplace. It will provide successful learners with a sound understanding of the principles of health and safety and give them the confidence to carry out risk assessments, manage and minimise workplace risks and support and develop their company’s health and safety culture.

On 7th January 2026, NEBOSH announced updates to this qualification – courses this year will be delivered to the new syllabus. For further information regarding the updates, please see our blog post.

Course content

1. Why we should manage health and safety
2. How health and safety managements systems work and what they look like
3. Managing risks – understanding people and processes
4. Health and safety monitoring and measuring
5. Physical and psychological health
6. Musculoskeletal health
7. Chemical and biological agents
8. General workplace issues
9. Work equipment
10. Fire
11. Electricity

The course is usually delivered over 10 days. Students are required to complete home study to assist with the learning process. Delegates are assessed by means of one open book exam (on a date set by NEBOSH) and completion of a comprehensive risk assessment. The new open book exam format means learners can complete the assessment in their own home or workplace.

Our NEBOSH National General Certificate open courses for 2026:

• Classroom course: 16^th 23^rd 30^th March; 7^th (Tues) 13^th 20^th 27^th April; 5^th (Tues) 11^th 18^th May; online exam 3^rd June
• Teams (online) course: 14^th 21^st 28^th September; 5^th 12^th 19^th 26^th October; 2^nd 9^th 16^th November, online exam 9^th December

Please note this course runs one day per week for 10 weeks, plus one day is for the exam date set by NEBOSH.

Open course cost: £1580 + VAT per person, which includes all course materials, the course/reference text Introduction to Health & Safety at Work, additional support (e.g. access to subject relevant documents in a dedicated Google classroom),  assessment registration and a NEBOSH National General Certificate from the awarding organisation for learners who successfully complete the assessments.

Open courses are held at our comfortable premises in Washington, Tyne & Wear, readily accessible from Sunderland, Newcastle, Durham, Teesside and beyond. If you have several people requiring the training, we can also deliver this course at your premises.

To check availability or make a booking, please email admin@hsftraining.co.uk

Further support

If you would like to discuss whether this course meets your requirements, please email admin@hsftraining.co.uk and one of our tutorial team will be pleased to assist you.

Further NEBOSH courses

We also offer the following NEBOSH qualifications as in house courses:

• NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety – please contact us for further information
• NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Manual Handling Risk Assessment – please click here for more information
• NEBOSH HSE Award in Managing Risks and Risk Assessment at Work – please click here for more information.