About a month has passed since I started the NEBOSH National Diploma which has given me plenty of time to get my head around all the things Peter covered in the first week. I was equally excited beginning Week 2 but this time I wasn’t at all nervous.
When I entered the diploma training room I saw a lot of familiar faces from Week 1 of the course. Andrew Froude introduced himself as the diploma tutor for Week 2.
Andrew has 18 years’ experience in health and safety and has been a NEBOSH Diploma tutor for 6 years. His previous experience included 5 years in the steel industry and 9 years as a Health and Safety Manager in a multi-national metal recycling company.
We started where we left off in Week 1; element A7. I found learning about human psychology, sociology and behaviour fascinating. Andrew covered key theories of human motivation and we discussed how personality, attitude, aptitude and motivation influence human behaviour.
The next day Andrew talked us through element A8; the principles of health and safety law. As well as UK law we also looked at the role of the European Union and how it affects UK health and safety legislation. I found this element particularly interesting as it gave me greater insight into how the UK Government determines policy and legislation in general. I try to follow British politics in the news but I found it beneficial looking at methods and procedures in more detail.
We started element A9 on Wednesday afternoon. This element focused on criminal law, in particular the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Andrew went through key sections of these Acts and Regulations in turn, highlighting relevant cases which could be used to help us answer the exam questions.
We continued A9 the next morning; looking at how health and safety law is enforced. Something I noticed was, although we had covered a lot of information over the past few days we were never rushed for time. Andrew was well versed with the content, this meant he was able to communicate the course information clearly and concisely; I never felt like he skimmed over things due to lack of time.
Element A10 concentrated on civil law. We looked at the concept ‘duty of care’, who it refers to and what it comprises of. Andrew showed us lots of examples of different cases where employers and employees did not take the required duty of care. Some of these examples resulted in serious injury or death which highlighted the importance of being vigilant with safety.
The key things I learnt
What really stuck with me from Week 2 were the factors that influence a human’s perception of risk. By taking into account psychological, sociological and behavioural factors, as a Health and Safety Manager, I can implement systems to reduce risk even further within my workplace.
Homework
We were given some practice questions during the first two weeks of training and were told we could email our answers to Jane Cains.
Jane would ensure our answers were marked by a Santia NEBOSH National Diploma tutor and sent back to us. I’m definitely planning to make use of this as the comments and feedback I receive about my answers will help me when it comes to preparing for the exam.
Unit A summary
I found Unit A really interesting and I enjoyed discussing different elements with the other delegates on the course. The tutors were exceptionally helpful and really knew the course material inside and out. They were able to answer our questions and relate the course content to real life situations which made it more applicable to my job role.
Check back for the next instalment of Jo’s journey through the NEBOSH National Diploma.