NEBOSH General Certificate changes: What you need to know

The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) has announced a series of changes to its National and International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety qualifications following a review.

The changes are mostly related to how the General Certificate is assessed. Teaching of the revised syllabus will begin on 2 February 2026, with the first assessments taking place from 4 March 2026.

What’s changing?

• The recommended tuition hours, taught hours, assessment hours and forms of assessment have been updated for each element of the syllabus.
• NG1/IG1 will be renamed GNC1 and GIC1. It will continue as a 24-hour scenario-based assessment.
• NG2/IG2 will be renamed GNC2 and GIC2. It will continue as a practical risk assessment with changes to:
  • Submission: The assessment will be submitted by the learner in the same way as unit one, via the online NEBOSH Assessment Platform. The deadline to submit this unit will be 10 working days after the GNC1/GIC1 assessment
  • Marking: Will move from met/not met to a points-based marking system, with a mark breakdown document automatically issued to the learner. The pass mark will be 60 per cent
  • Results: Both units' results will be issued on the same day, 60 working days from the 24-hour scenario-based assessment (GNC1/GIC1). This means that learners will receive the outcome of their whole qualification at the same time.
• Qualification holders are also entitled to:
  • Associate Membership (AIIRSM) of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM)
  • Affiliate Membership (AIOSH) of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). The qualification also meets the academic requirements for Technical Membership (Tech IOSH) of IOSH with appropriate experience. (Assessments must be taken in the UK to be eligible for IOSH membership).
• The learning outcomes and assessment criteria have also been revised.
• The definition of “incident” has been updated to reflect the definition used in ISO45001: “An event that happens in the workplace that causes (or has the potential to cause) harm, injury, ill-health or damage.”
• The wording of the syllabus content for each element has been revised.

Why has it changed?

The revisions to the General Certificate have been designed to ensure that it is fair and relevant to all learners and that the process is more streamlined, making it more straightforward by giving learners one portal to submit all their assessments.

Key dates

• 2 February 2026: teaching of revised syllabus begins
• 4 March 2026: first assessments against the revised syllabus and updated unit two assessments
• 6 August 2026: final assessments against the current syllabus (October 2018 specification).

Further information can be found on the NEBOSH website