The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) is a globally recognised provider of qualifications for health and safety and risk management professionals.
Earning a NEBOSH certification opens countless doors for professionals—not only do many job adverts specify NEBOSH qualifications, but National General Certificate holders also become eligible for membership of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (AIOSH and Tech IOSH) and the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (AIIRSM).
In August 2020, NEBOSH permanently replaced in-person, invigilated closed book examinations with a digital assessment, or open book exam, across several qualifications. This applies to the following certificates:
British Safety Council is a NEBOSH Gold Learning Partner—meaning we “greatly exceed” the minimum standard across NEBOSH’s six key learning principles. In this guide, we will go through everything you need to know about taking the NEBOSH open book exam, from how to prepare to exam examples and getting your results.
NEBOSH open book exams have now permanently replaced in-person assessments across a number of courses.
| Open book | In person | |
| Duration | 24 hours | 2-3 hours |
| Structure | Scenario with 10 accompanying questions | 10 short-answer questions, 1 long-answer question |
| Access to study materials | Yes | No |
| Invigilated | No | Yes |
This change from closed book to open book exams was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to offer remote assessments. However, open book exams have many benefits over their in-person, invigilated counterparts, including:
The exact format of the NEBOSH open book assessment will differ depending on the qualification for which you are studying.
In all cases, you will be presented with a scenario and given a fictional job role within that scenario, such as a site manager or health and safety advisor.
The example below is adapted from a real NEBOSH exam paper.
Example scenario: You are a newly appointed health and safety advisor for a construction company. You work in the head office, which is a two-storey office building. The office building is in a business park away from main traffic routes. The office has its own on-site car park, but spaces are sometimes limited. No one has assessed the risks in the car park. In your role as a health and safety advisor you would like to improve health and safety because you take your responsibilities seriously and want to make the workplace safer for everyone.
You will then be asked to apply your health and safety knowledge to the scenario in a series of questions.
Example question: You have been asked to chair the health and safety committee meeting. Before the meeting, you decide that you will open the meeting by reminding everyone of moral expectations of health and safety. Prepare notes of the moral arguments you will use at the meeting.
Most NEBOSH open book exams take place within a 24-hour window, except for the NEBOSH Health and Safety Management for Construction Certificate, which allows 48 hours. You are not expected to work for the entirety of this time. The assessment itself takes around 4-5 hours to complete (10-14 hours for the Health and Safety Management for Construction Certificate). The remaining time can be used to draft answers, make notes and troubleshoot any unfortunate technical problems.
Don’t leave your assessment until the last minute of your 24-hour period. If you submit your assessment after the exam window ends, you will automatically fail the qualification. It’s up to you to plan your time effectively.
Your exact word count limit will depend on what qualification you are taking.
The recommended word count for the NEBOSH General Certificate, NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety and NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate open book exam is 3,000 words.
The recommended word count for the NEBOSH Health and Safety Management for Construction (UK) open book exam is 4,500 words. This excludes the risk assessment task, which has no word limit.
Across all assessments, there is a 10% leeway either way.
The 10% leeway explained
