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HEALTH & SAFETY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT EVENTS
Health, Safety & Environmental Training that Works
NG2/IG2 – Helpful hints and common
errors
Zoe Neasham · 26/05/2022 ·
So you are approaching your NG2/IG2 project (let’s call it the “project”) and it all looks
pretty simple. You just need to get a pass. There are no grades and there’s guidance from
NEBOSH to follow – nobody fails this surely?! Well yes, it IS pretty straightforward but it is
by no means a guaranteed pass and unfortunately every sitting students do get a “refer”. I
was asked what that means last week – in days gone by we would have said “fail”. Now we
mean “you didn’t meet the standard and will need another go…”.
A couple of years ago Eva Ainscough wrote an excellent blog on “how to pass first time”
using her experience as an examiner. You can find that here at How to Complete Your
NG2/IG2 Practical Assessment and Pass First Time – (rrc.co.uk) but as the forms have
changed and there is new guidance I thought an update is in order. I’m not an examiner, but
I have had to chip students off the ceiling when they “referred” for what can seem pretty
minor errors. But it is a standard that NEBOSH have set and therefore let’s look at the
requirements again.
IF YOU ARE READY, THEN I’LL BEGIN…
Once upon a time NG2 was a paper based, classroom, 2 hour exam full of terror and
trepidation. There was also a practical paper which was also completed under exam
conditions. Now, quite rightly, NEBOSH has decided that asking people to do an assessment
and write a report in a locked room under time pressure is not a realistic test of skill and
knowledge. And as a result NEBOSH have set a project which assesses the understanding of
hazards, risks and importantly controls and have set it as a piece of work to be completed at
your workplace.
ACCESS TO “A WORKPLACE”
So issue one is that you need access to “a workplace” where you can talk to people, review
documents if needed, and carry out an inspection. That the ‘workplace’ needs to be big
enough to allow you to find some hazards, and not so perfect that you can’t find
improvements to make. If you don’t have access to a suitable ‘workplace’ then you will need
to talk to exams and see if they can help you to find a suitable location, such as your gym, a
hotel etc.
You need to identify AT LEAST 10 hazards from AT LEAST 5 of the NEBOSH hazard
categories. More about that later, but the message is you can’t just find 10 slip and trip
hazards or 10 fire hazards, you need a range.
NEBOSH GUIDANCE
NEBOSH guidance and forms are available from the RRC learning centre or at National
General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety – NEBOSH or International General
Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety – NEBOSH. If you haven’t visited the
NEBOSH website then the first lesson is do visit! In the resources section (it’s almost at the
bottom of the page) there is a guide to the NG2 / IG2 and also the forms that you need to
complete. Grab them, if you don’t read the guide (and many don’t) then you are missing a
trick!
AN EXAMINER TRAINING COURSE ACCESS
NEBOSH have even shared an examiner training course online if you click on NG2/IG2
Examiner Guidance – NEBOSH. Never say that they aren’t giving us access to the
information. This is frankly brilliant and walks you through the project criteria step by step,
and indicates the standard needed. You really should read this – it won’t take you long, it has
animation and is incredibly good!
PAY ATTENTION ON A WORD COUNT!
There is a word count for each section. This is indicated on the submission form and will
give you an idea of the detail they require. Basically as a minimum if the form asks you to do
something and you fail to do it, that will be marked as “not met” and you will refer. It’s like a
driving test, if you fail one of the elements you have to go again. So you may think it’s trivial
and petty that you failed because you left a box blank and didn’t say how many workers
there were, or didn’t assign an owner to an action, but those are the rules we are playing by
and that is what you need to do to pass.
SO LESSON ONE
Fill in EVERY BOX. By this I mean don’t leave any blank spaces, if it is not applicable put
“not applicable”. If you think “that’s well controlled already, no further action is needed
here” then put “no further action required”.
LESSON TWO
NEBOSH have published an NG2/IG2 marking guide as part of the Examiner Guidance on
their website that you can look at too. This is an extremely useful resource to you as a
learner as you can see what NEBOSH are advising examiners about marking the practical.
The interactive information below the video contains a lot of information AND if you click
on the word RESOURCES you can access a marking guidance PDF with examples of good
and bad answers for all parts of the risk assessment! Read the NEBOSH guidance for
learners. You can get the marking guide from the examiner guidance page NG/IG2
Examiner Guidance (nebosh.org.uk). You really MUST look at this! It contains the marking
criteria – so if it says include the shift pattern in the description of the workplace, include
the shift pattern. Whilst it may be obvious to you that a dentist operates day shift only you
won’t get a tick if you leave it out, so say “operating from the hours of 8 am to 5 pm Monday
to Saturday…”. Personally, I would print the marking criteria and literally cross every item
off as I included it in my submission. I admit I’m a dinosaur and I print and cross things off,
but it works for me!
HAZARD CATEGORIES IN PART 2
The risk assessment in part 2 MUST contain at least 10 hazards from at least 5 hazard
categories. I would personally go for 13 or 14 hazards from maybe 6 or 7 hazard categories
just in case the examiner considers that you have duplicated hazards. Here the watch out is
that the hazard categories must be stated exactly as NEBOSH describe them in the learner
guide (Table 1 on pg 7 of the learner guide). If you say “chemicals” that will get a “not met” as
the hazard category is “hazardous substances”. You would then describe the hazard as
“inhalation of solvents used for cleaning” (or similar). “Stress” is not a hazard category, the
hazard category is “mental ill-health at work” (and use the full title). So, for completeness
the hazard categories are:
noise
vibration
radiation
mental ill-health
violence at work
substance abuse at work
work related upper-limb disorders (ergonomics, workstation design etc)
manual handling
load handling equipment
hazardous substances (chemical or biological)
health, welfare and work environment
working at height
confined spaces
lone working
slips and trips
movement of people and vehicles in the workplace
work-related driving
work equipment and machinery
fire
electricity
In your risk assessment table look carefully at the column headers. If it says “hazard category
and hazard” they want both, failing to provide one of these things in one of these rows will
result in a “not met”. You have to state who could be harmed and how, and when asked for
“what further controls/actions are required”, NEBOSH expects a response even if that is
“well controlled, no further action needed at this time”. If, consequently you don’t need to
assign “timescales” and a “responsible person” then put “not applicable”. Blank boxes as we
know are a no-no, and avoid saying “as above” as it may not be accepted, repeat yourself if
necessary!
BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT YOUR CONTROLS ARE
These will be used later in part 3 of the assessment – vague terms like “training” are unlikely
to be sufficient, show you know your stuff! Say what training is required such as when and
how and which PPE to use for a task. Remember your studies, if there’s specific legislation
or guidance on controlling a hazard then use this and show the examiner that you
understand it.
For example, if it’s a machinery hazard then consider using the hierarchy of guarding from
PUWER. Or if its work at height then avoid, prevent or minimise the distance &/or
consequence hierarchy when giving what further controls/actions that are required.
TIMESCALE
When asked for a timescale, give a timescale – not everything is “immediate”, that is
unrealistic, and “as required” or “ASAP” is not a timescale.
LOOKING INTO COMMON HAZARD CATEGORIES
Sometimes it is worth picking common hazard categories and going hunting for them. For
example, I might print off my risk assessment sheets (dinosaur, I told you already), grab a
clipboard and mark one sheet as “fire” another as “hazardous substances”, one as “movement
of people and vehicles in the workplace” etc. and then use that to help me. Other people find
going for a look around with no particular framework is easier – do whatever works for
you. Check:
1) that the hazard you are identifying actually fits in the hazard category you are using. Refer
back to your course notes and the syllabus.
2) you describe the hazards so the examiner knows what you have found – “fire door” is not
an adequate description, “fire door damaged, does not close properly” is better”.
3) that when you have finished you have the required number of hazards and range of
categories. I know I have said that 3 times now but people still get referred for not doing it.
You may assign more than one action for a hazard. That is perfectly fine and often necessary.
For example, you may use an interim control and a longer term measure but for every action
assign a timescale and an owner! Careful formatting here (i.e. keeping it in straight lines)
will make it easier to read and mark. If you assign an action and no clear owner, you’ve
guessed it, “not met” will be the cry. Don’t try to save time by sticking 2 hazards in the same
row, you’ll come unstuck. One hazard, one row is the way to go here!
PART 3 AND 3 MAIN ACTIONS
In part 3 you are showing your skills at convincing management to act – so do that!
You are required to identify 3 main actions. Pick something for each that you see as
significant and make sure you can justify it using moral, specific legal and financial
arguments. They must be the highest priority ones you identified in part 2.
First you need to provide the general moral, general legal and financial arguments that apply
to all three of the actions you have chosen to prioritise. Make sure you write a good amount
here as you are expected to provide 300 to 350 words. Look at the example from the marking
guide I linked to before.
When describing your 3 actions they MUST come from part 2 so use the same words. Make
it clear to the examiner that part 3 is a continuation of part 2 and definitely don’t pluck
actions from thin air in part 3!!
The moral argument is covered at the start of part 3 and relates to all 3 actions (this is the
fire and brimstone “nobody expects to be injured at work”, “society’s expectations” etc
piece), but the specific legal arguments have to be supplied for each of your three actions.
With the specific legal arguments for each action you will need to refer to relevant items of
law, regulations, conventions etc. You’ll also need to discuss the likelihood and severity of
harm occurring, and how effective the action will be in controlling the risk for each of the
three actions.
I’ve said it already but look at the marking guide from NEBOSH to get an understanding of
what’s required.
ROW HEADINGS
In part 3 it’s the row headings that are important here, read the requirements for each row of
the table. You need to explain the likelihood of harm AND severity to get a “met”, you must
also explain the intended impact of the action, justification for the timescale (as stated in
part 2) and whether the risk will be fully controlled or not.
PART 4
Part 4 is pretty straightforward but take care – don’t fall at the final hurdle! You need to give
a review date, period and a reason for this, how you will communicate the risk assessment
and to whom and how you will check actions are completed.
BEFORE YOU SUBMIT…
Once you think you are there, check back over the marking criteria – have you done
everything asked of you. Check your word counts too, don’t worry if you are a little over the
word count but aim for the larger of the two numbers and make sure there are (one last
time) no empty boxes!
Zoe Neasham
RRC Lead Tutor
Filed Under: Certificate, Exams, Health & Safety, NEBOSH
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